BBC VOICES RECORDINGS http://sounds.bl.uk

Title:

Workington, Cumbria

Shelfmark:

C1190/11/05

Recording date:

24.11.2004

Speakers: English, Evelyn, b. 1954 Carlisle; female; neighbourhood warden James, Harry, b. 1930 Wigton; male; volunteer minibus driver (father farm-hand & miner; mother seamstress) McMullen, Kathy, b. 1968 Workington; female; neighbourhood warden (father steel erector; mother barmaid) Walker, Helen, b. 1966; female; neighbourhood warden (father gamekeeper; mother scientist at ICI) White, Ann, b. 1954 Workington; female; carer (father textile worker; mother textile worker)

The interviewees are all staff at a new community centre on the Salterbeck Estate. ELICITED LEXIS

○ see English Dialect Dictionary (1898-1905) * see Survey of English Dialects Basic Material (1962-1971) ∆ see New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006) ♥ see Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (2014) ⌂ no previous source (with this sense) identified pleased (not discussed) tired (not discussed) unwell peely-wally; dying, hung-over, ill, badly (of hangover) hot (not discussed) cold (not discussed) annoyed (not discussed) throw scop○ play truant (not discussed) sleep (not discussed) play a game lake (used by partner from Clifton); larking about; doss (“are you dossing out?” used by children locally for ‘playing out’); doss about hit hard (not discussed)

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 1 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings clothes (not discussed) trousers pants; knickers, boxer shorts, underkecks♥, G string (of underwear) child’s shoe galoshes (local word); plimsolls; daps (used in Carlisle); pumps, trainers, indoors⌂ (used by own children) mother (not discussed) gmother (not discussed) m partner (not discussed) friend (not discussed) gfather (not discussed) forgot name thingummyjig∆ kit of tools gear trendy (not discussed) f partner (not discussed) baby babby○ rain heavily (not discussed) toilet (not discussed) walkway ginnel (used in Yorkshire); alley long seat (not discussed) run water (not discussed) main room (not discussed) rain lightly (not discussed) rich (not discussed) left-handed cack-handed; left-paw* unattractive (not discussed) lack money skint drunk gatted∆ pregnant (not discussed) attractive (not discussed) insane (not discussed) moody (not discussed) SPONTANEOUS LEXIS anyways = anyway (0:39:38 I think it’s a good thing because, you know, it gets people interested I think um my accent anyways and you can relate till other people with the same accent if you go off somewhere else it’s like being back at home a bit if you meet somebody else from Cumbria) a one* = one (0:26:01 oh I’ve got a one or two that it pulled out from the back of my mind ‘unwell’ I often say ‘peely-wally’ for ‘unwell’) at the minute = at the moment (0:19:08 I mean at the minute I’m a bit Cumbrian and I’m a bit Yorkshire because people always say to me, “oh you’ve got a slightly different accent”) aye = yes (0:03:20 ‘underkecks’ (that’s a) yeah (that’s a uh dialect word, isn’t it?) it is, aye, I think so yeah, aye, aye; 0:51:04 (do you think I can fit in?) you’d fit in, well, mebbe (no) mebbe (ten years fifteen years?) aye, summat like that; 0:59:58 you had to drown, like, soak them, hadn’t you, and then stick them out in t’ fresh air to dry (used to wear them) (and they cracked) and they cracked, yeah aye, they did, aye; 1:01:46 (‘monkey boots’) (aye, ‘monkey boots’) aye, my sister used to have a pair of them me sister had some I was devastated ’cause I never got a pair)

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 2 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings blinking = substitute for strong expletive equivalent to ‘very/really’ (0:31:07 I mean even on Big Brother1 you picked up ‘blinking’ from Helen was it Helen ‘blinking’, “it’s blinking good, that”) boss = great, excellent (0:04:15 I was noticing at the weekend when he came up anything that was ‘good’ was ‘boss’ and I’d never heard that before even on television I’d never heard that) Brummy = person from Birmingham (0:21:40 Brummies I absolutely hate that accent they just sound s… it makes them sound thick I just hate it soon as you hear them you just imagine somebody really stupid) buer = girl (0:23:23 I know of travellers I know a a lot of travellers (so what was that word you said before?) like well they would call the ‘muskras’ and for ‘police’ and and ‘nash’ but I think some of that comes from Carlisle as well […] a ‘buer’ I think for ‘girl’ I’m (in Carlisle, yeah) I’m not sure but I I used to know a lot of the words but I I I’ve forgot them now) bugger = mild expletive (0:32:52 if mam and dad did swear it was ‘bugger’ and ‘hell’ and that was about as strong as it went) Cockney = dialect of London (0:22:15 just the really when they start going intill all this Cockney rhyme and all that I mean folk up here doesn’t understand it I don’t think half of t’ southerners understand it neither; 0:22:23 I know they must be proud of their Cockney rhyming and all that, like, but I can’t stick that, like) crack = chat, conversation (0:04:39 different when they’re with their mates but when they were speaking to me or hav... just having a general crack then I would try and s…, you know, pull them up with if it was very broad I would pull them up; 0:25:26 no, I just enj… just that I’ve just enjoyed the conversation round here the ‘crack’ as we might say in our dialect, you know, and I’ve really enjoyed it thanks for inviting us) C-word = euphemism for ‘cunt’ (0:34:09 the C-word and it’s all they a lot of them are against women) daft as a brush = silly, foolish (0:57:08 I mean she’s really posh she isn’t when you know her she’s as daft as a brush) didicoy = gypsy (0:23:03 (they have their own language and that’s so other people can’t understand) didicoy (yeah, um I can’t think of any words right now but like ‘muskras’ for ‘police’)) eff = to use word ‘fuck’, to swear frequently (0:31:30 my four-year-old’s been singing this song and it’s, “eff you right back” and and she’s only four and because she’s heard it on the radio a lot and so I can’t, you know, she sings that song and all her friends sing it) fella = man (0:06:07 when I was w... um working as a textile worker in uh Supermoor there was um a fella he was our manager and he was called Alasdair and he was from Scotland; 0:06:15 and he started saying, “well we can’t understand you can you not sort of speak a bit more proper so that me and Bob” another fella from Scotland “can understand you?”; 0:39:11 I was once standing in a pub in London and in this local pub and I ordered me drink and this fella who was beside us he said, “oh I recognise that accent”) folk = people (0:02:58 ‘knickers’ is ‘knickers’ and a lot of folk call ‘knickers’ ‘pants’ ‘trousers’ is ‘pants’ till us where a lot of folk call them ‘trousers’; 0:12:27 especially people from t’ south they say, “oh why why is a northerner on why can’t we have a southerner on?” because they think we’re rough and ready, you know, they think we’re common folk and we’re just the same as them it’s just our accents; 0:14:13 if you’re out in public you just try and curb it a lile bit so that other folk can understand you, you know, but the southerners don’t seem to think that though; 0:15:29 but she’s still got her English accent and when she was a telesales um operator over in Australia she used to get a lot of folk saying you were from England because they could always understand her accent and they knew exactly where she come from ’cause she has no Australian accent at all; 0:22:15 just the really when they start going intill all this Cockney rhyme and all that I mean folk up here doesn’t understand it I don’t think half of t’ southerners understand it neither; 0:22:31 I’m proud of my accent (yeah) and I don’t think we sh… I don’t think anybody should change I mean whether whether folk like it or not; 0:24:37 well to ‘throw’ I mean we would to say to ‘skop’ I mean but a lot of folk wouldn’t know what ‘skop’ was really so I mean it’s just things like that; 0:24:46 ‘kit of tools’ we’ve got ‘gear’ ‘words that you’ve forgotten’ or uh ‘whose name

1 Reality TV show first broadcast in UK on Channel 4 in 2000.

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 3 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings you’ve forgotten’ ‘thingummyjig’ but a lot of folk wouldn’t know that round unless they were round from round here mebbe it would be in other dialects I don’t know) F-word = euphemism for ‘fuck’ (0:27:16 (yeah, I I mean I have a tendency to use the F-word quite a lot when I’m uh) yeah, yeah, I do (I do as well) my brother disowns me he won’t talk till us when I’m drunk; 0:32:09 (a swear-word implies summat not nice really, you know, so) I think it’s great to say the F-word if you’re in a bad mood (oh yeah, definitely) I think just saying the F-word ov… over again it just releases summat) ga○ = go (0:11:04 and I th… you can’t be coming out if you’re in meetings or talking to somebody with responsibility just coming out with ‘gaing’ and ‘louping’ and, you know, the the normal way people the way you talk if you were just talking in a conversation I think you alter it to the people that you’re with) Geordie = person from Newcastle upon Tyne (0:08:37 I mean I don’t really think I’ve got that strong a Cumbrian accent but when you hear yourself on tape it sounds really broad and I think a lot of people probably struggle to understand you a lot of people think you’re Geordies; 0:20:11 in my tank crew there was uh a Scotchman there was a Geordie meself and a lad from uh Devon) intill = into (0:22:15 just the really when they start going intill all this Cockney rhyme and all that I mean folk up here doesn’t understand it I don’t think half of t’ southerners understand it neither; 0:41:58 no, ’cause I’ve always went for a local job and it’s always been um a local firm with local accents and that round here so it’s never really come intill it that way) kid = young child, infant (0:16:55 yeah, I think it I think it’s easier for kids to pick up and lose accents than what what it is for us; 0:29:56 kids think they’re big though uh lasses and lads they think they’re big if they swear and the the worse the swearing is the bigger they think they are and the more grown up they think they are and it just sounds rotten at times it sounds really degrading for them especially t’ lile ’uns; 1:01:11 (the little’un’s only four and you can pay up to thirty pound for a pair of trainers) well when we were kids you just got owt that your mother and father could afford there was no labels as such then) lass = girl (0:15:15 well me sister she moved away in 1971 she was always a Workington lass same as me and uh she moved till Australia and when she rings up now she hasn’t lost her English accent; 0:29:56 kids think they’re big though uh lasses and lads they think they’re big if they swear and the the worse the swearing is the bigger they think they are and the more grown up they think they are and it just sounds rotten at times it sounds really degrading for them especially t’ lile ’uns; 0:47:44 and this lass I was about nine or ten in junior school and she says, “please, sir, Ann’s using the wrong hand she’s using the left hand for to do it) learn = teach (0:10:06 and I just turned round and told them I said, “well you call me what you like” but I said, “when I’m in company uh I like to speak properly I was learnt to speak properly and I can do it” I said, “whereas you people” I says, “you can’t even talk you can’t even talk your own dialect some of yous” so after that I never bothered it; 0:50:21 I know when me brother-in-law come over from Australia we tried to learn him how to say ‘worm’ how we say it round here we say “worm” and it was hilarious listening till him to try and say this “worm” and I don’t think he ever got it off right) little’un∆ = young child, infant (1:01:11 the little’un’s only four and you can pay up to thirty pound for a pair of trainers (well when we were kids you just got owt that your mother and father could afford there was no labels as such then)) lile = little (0:14:13 if you’re out in public you just try and curb it a lile bit so that other folk can understand you, you know, but the southerners don’t seem to think that though; 0:29:56 kids think they’re big though uh lasses and lads they think they’re big if they swear and the the worse the swearing is the bigger they think they are and the more grown up they think they are and it just sounds rotten at times it sounds really degrading for them especially t’ lile ’uns; 0:55:23 I tend to sit back a lile bit and then weigh them up) lingo = dialect, jargon, slang (0:06:46 we had, like, a bit of a compromise there where we didn’t slang it so much and they didn’t go into the Scottish lingo so much) loup = to jump (0:11:04 and I th… you can’t be coming out if you’re in meetings or talking to somebody with responsibility just coming out with ‘gaing’ and ‘louping’ and, you know, the the normal way people

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 4 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings the way you talk if you were just talking in a conversation I think you alter it to the people that you’re with) mam = mother (0:15:44 I think you pick a lot of it up at school because my sister never went to school here when we came from Yorkshire and she still talks very posh and Yorkshire and so does me mam but me and me brother both went to school in Cockermouth and we we’re a lot more Cumbrian; 0:29:35 I think they swear a lot more today than what they ever did I mean I can remember when I was growing up you would never ever hear anybody swear and I […] no, I w… you would never hear your mam and dad swearing and none of my friends used to swear but now I think it’s the norm, isn’t it?; 0:46:31 I’ve heard me mam say um they used to make you use your right hand if you were left-handed which I think is wrong because I mean your brain works different, doesn’t it, if you’re right-handed or left-handed (yeah) so I think that must’ve really confused people and really held them back; 0:51:51 if me mam’s ever speaking down to me she always puts on a really posh voice because she knows it winds me up) mebbe = perhaps, maybe (0:24:46 ‘kit of tools’ we’ve got ‘gear’ ‘words that you’ve forgotten’ or uh ‘whose name you’ve forgotten’ ‘thingummyjig’ but a lot of folk wouldn’t know that round unless they were round from round here mebbe it would be in other dialects I don’t know; 0:33:02 I don’t know I’ve I’m just wondering mesel if it would come out if if it would release it and all this anger mebbe that’s been built up inside of us for all these years if mebbe I would swear I don’t know we’ll mebbe have to have an experiment; 0:51:04 (do you think I can fit in?) you’d fit in, well, mebbe (no) mebbe (ten years fifteen years?) aye, summat like that) minger = unattractive person (0:31:23 if they hear a word on telly (aye, it does, yeah) that becomes popular suddenly all the kids start saying it, don’t they, like, “you’re a slapper” or, “you’re a minger”) monkey boots = rubber-soled leather ankle-boot (1:01:28 (it was better, yeah, because there was no competition as to what you were wearing” or, “I’ve got the better s… trainer than you have” or “your trai… trainer’s not as good as mine” you know, I mean we all wore galoshes and that was it, like, and it was all t’ same sort elastic fell off round t’ edges or summat round t’ soles or) monkey boots; 1:01:46 (‘monkey boots’) aye, ‘monkey boots’ (aye, my sister used to have a pair of them me sister had some I was devastated ’cause I never got a pair)) muskra∆ = policeman (0:23:03 (they have their own language and that’s so other people can’t understand) didicoy (yeah, um I can’t think of any words right now but like ‘muskras’ for ‘police’); 0:23:23 I know of travellers I know a a lot of travellers (so what was that word you said before?) like well they would call the ‘muskras’ and for ‘police’ and and ‘nash’ but I think some of that comes from Carlisle as well […] a ‘buer’ I think for ‘girl’ I’m (in Carlisle, yeah) I’m not sure but I I used to know a lot of the words but I I I’ve forgot them now) mysel○ = myself (0:30:14 and I don’t think there’s any need for it to be honest I’ve never used the language mesel (I think) um but like you say it is a growing trend; 0:33:02 I don’t know I’ve I’m just wondering mesel if it would come out if if it would release it and all this anger mebbe that’s been built up inside of us for all these years if mebbe I would swear I don’t know we’ll mebbe have to have an experiment) nash∆ = to leave quickly (0:23:23 I know of travellers I know a a lot of travellers (so what was that word you said before?) like well they would call the ‘muskras’ and for ‘police’ and and ‘nash’ but I think some of that comes from Carlisle as well […] a ‘buer’ I think for ‘girl’ I’m (in Carlisle, yeah) I’m not sure but I I used to know a lot of the words but I I I’ve forgot them now) nowt = nothing (0:40:08 Cumbria’s the forgotten county we don’t get a weather forecast we’ve we’ve gotta go for Belfast or southern Scotland because up north are Liverpool and Manchester and then there’s nowt there’s thi… this invisible gap, like, where we live) owt = anything (0:24:03 well you had to talk a bit proper when you were at school ’cause um they didn’t like you slanging it or owt, like, but uh I never really got pulled up on me accent just if you started saying ‘lile’ for ‘little’ and things like that and ‘babby’ instead of ‘baby’; 1:01:11 (the little’un’s only four and you can pay up to thirty pound for a pair of trainers) well when we were kids you just got owt that your mother and father could afford there was no labels as such then)

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 5 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings proper = really (0:16:33 he lost his broad Cumbrian acc… uh Australian accent and he was proper broad Cumbrian but Nathan the little one that was four you could still not understand him when he went back twelve month ago twe… twelve month later I should say) Queen’s English = popular term for Standard English and/or Received Pronunciation (0:06:57 we started speaking broader to wind him up because he he was saying that when we were trying to talk a bit decent for him that we he still couldn’t understand us and I think he wanted to s… us to talk Queen’s English so that he could understand us; 0:07:15 and I’m not bothered about Queens’s English if he he wants to talk that well fine but I just thought, “well if you won’t talk right so at we can understand you we’re not gonna talk right neither” so we all ganged up on him and it it settled him) quid = pound sterling (0:40:54 it was one of these you had to send send a order in for about twenty-five quid (oh right) and then send your thing back and you could’ve won you went in this prize draw so I told them to get lost, like) Scotchman = Scotsman (0:20:11 in my tank crew there was uh a Scotchman there was a Geordie meself and a lad from uh Devon) slang∆ = to use slang (0:06:46 we had, like, a bit of a compromise there where we didn’t slang it so much and they didn’t go into the Scottish lingo so much; 0:24:03 well you had to talk a bit proper when you were at school ’cause um they didn’t like you slanging it or owt, like, but uh I never really got pulled up on me accent just if you started saying ‘lile’ for ‘little’ and things like that and ‘babby’ instead of ‘baby’) slapper = promiscuous female (0:31:23 if they hear a word on telly (aye, it does, yeah) that becomes popular suddenly all the kids start saying it, don’t they, like, “you’re a slapper” or, “you’re a minger”) son of a bitch = term of abuse (0:33:38 um I I never realised for a long time but then when it was pointed out till us about, you know, it’s all about women, isn’t it, um like uh ‘son of a bitch’ and thing like that that’s against women and it’s just when I realised how awful the words are it and yet a lot a lot of women use them against theirsels) stick = to put up with, tolerate, endure (0:22:23 I know they must be proud of their Cockney rhyming and all that, like, but I can’t stick that, like) summat∆ = something (0:09:31 you know it’s just to get on their level really (yeah) yeah, (so) ’cause if I talked posh or summat they would they wouldn’t listen to us (no, they would think you were talking down to them as well probably); 0:09:44 when I’m on the phone I’m always polite, you know, I uh it’s summat just comes natural to us but once I put that phone down I’m back till the uh the, you know, the local accent and that, like; 0:32:09 (a swear-word implies summat not nice really, you know, so) I think it’s great to say the F-word if you’re in a bad mood (oh yeah, definitely) I think just saying the F-word ov… over again it just releases summat; 0:35:42 well as soon as we open our mouth a northerner a southerner despises you really ’cause like I say y… they think you’re common we’re just the same as them a lot of s… I suppose a lot of northerners’ll think southerners is too posh or summat I don’t know but it’s just one of them things, eh?; 0:51:04 (do you think I can fit in?) you’d fit in, well, mebbe (no) mebbe (ten years fifteen years?) aye, summat like that; 1:01:28 it was better, yeah, because there was no competition as to what you were wearing” or, “I’ve got the better s… trainer than you have” or “your trai… trainer’s not as good as mine” you know, I mean we all wore galoshes and that was it, like, and it was all t’ same sort elastic fell off round t’ edges or summat round t’ soles or (monkey boots)) tara = goodbye (0:25:40 tara (tara, Harry) (see you) (bye) (tara)) theirsels○ = themselves (0:22:53 I mean ’cause it’s all new language all till theirsels, isn’t it?; 0:33:38 um I I never realised for a long time but then when it was pointed out till us about, you know, it’s all about women, isn’t it, um like uh ‘son of a bitch’ and thing like that that’s against women and it’s just when I realised how awful the words are it and yet a lot a lot of women use them against theirsels) thick = stupid, unintelligent (0:21:40 Brummies I absolutely hate that accent they just sound s… it makes them sound thick I just hate it soon as you hear them you just imagine somebody really stupid) till = to (0:02:58 ‘knickers’ is ‘knickers’ and a lot of folk call ‘knickers’ ‘pants’ ‘trousers’ is ‘pants’ till us where a lot of folk call them ‘trousers’; 0:06:30 so we sa… I told them all to start and talk more more broad and I says, “unless you speak till us so that we can understand you you’ll have to just get on with it

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 6 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings same as we have to with you”; 0:08:55 um I’ve found that I have to change me accent sometimes I mean I work a lot with the youth and so I keep me broad accent um but then when I’m I go till Ulverston which isn’t very far away the a lot of them can’t really understand us and they they ask me where I’m from; 0:09:44 when I’m on the phone I’m always polite, you know, I uh it’s summat just comes natural to us but once I put that phone down I’m back till the uh the, you know, the local accent and that, like; 0:13:48 Harry’s got a different accent till us I mean when I was first fifteen and I left school um I went to work at Maryport and I’ve always been in Workington; 0:14:59 we’re all the same it shouldn’t really make any difference, like, but l… like you say they do sort of they talk down till you because I think that some I think think you’re muck under their feet to be honest; 0:15:15 well me sister she moved away in 1971 she was always a Workington lass same as me and uh she moved till Australia and when she rings up now she hasn’t lost her English accent; 0:17:29 the northerner always has to change till the southerners because they won’t return the favour”; 0:27:16 (yeah, I I mean I have a tendency to use the F-word quite a lot when I’m uh) yeah, yeah, I do (I do as well) my brother disowns me he won’t talk till us when I’m drunk; 0:33:38 um I I never realised for a long time but then when it was pointed out till us about, you know, it’s all about women, isn’t it, um like uh ‘son of a bitch’ and thing like that that’s against women and it’s just when I realised how awful the words are it and yet a lot a lot of women use them against theirsels; 0:39:38 I think it’s a good thing because, you know, it gets people interested I think um my accent anyways and you can relate till other people with the same accent if you go off somewhere else it’s like being back at home a bit if you meet somebody else from Cumbria; 0:50:21 I know when me brother-in-law come over from Australia we tried to learn him how to say ‘worm’ how we say it round here we say “worm” and it was hilarious listening till him to try and say this “worm” and I don’t think he ever got it off right) wind up = to annoy, irritate (0:06:57 we started speaking broader to wind him up because he he was saying that when we were trying to talk a bit decent for him that we he still couldn’t understand us and I think he wanted to s… us to talk Queen’s English so that he could understand us; 0:51:51 if me mam’s ever speaking down to me she always puts on a really posh voice because she knows it winds me up) winkle-picker = type of shoe with long pointed toe (1:02:10 I can remember when me sister was growing up she used to wear these really uh pointed court shoes winkle-pickers and that and she used to to stop the points sort of going funny she used to have to stuff them all with newspaper and they looked that daft I sup… I suppose they were fashionable at the time) PHONOLOGY

KIT [ɪ] (0:08:00 I think [θɪŋk] West Cumbrians all talk pretty [pɹɪtɪ] fast anyway and anybody coming from out of the county if we’re slipping [slɪpɪn] slang words in amongst it they have just haven’t got a clue; 0:18:21 and when she qui... comes over here for a holiday she just she’s talking one minute [mɪnɪʰ] French on the phone then the next minute [mɪnɪt] she’s just as if she’s back in Clifton [klɪftn̩] and always been there again; 0:15:15 well my sister [sɪstə] she moved away in 1971 she was always a Workington [wʊkɪtn̩] lass same as me and uh she moved till Australia and when she rings up [ɹɪŋz ʊp] now she hasn’t lost her English [ɪŋglɪʃ] accent) (0:15:29 but she’s still got her English accent and when she was a telesales um operator over in Australia she used to get a lot of folk saying you were from England because they could always understand her accent and they knew exactly [ɛgzaklɪ] where she come from ’cause she has no Australian accent at all; 0:25:26 no, I just enj… just that I’ve just enjoyed [ɛnʤɔɪd] the conversation round here the ‘crack’ as we might say in our dialect, you know, and I’ve really enjoyed [ɛnʤɔɪd] it thanks for inviting us; 0:33:02 I don’t know I’ve I’m just wondering mysel if it would come out if if it would release it and all this anger mebbe that’s been built up inside of us for all these years if mebbe I would swear I don’t know we’ll mebbe have to have an experiment

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[ɛkspɛɾɪmənt]; 1:00:39 expensive [ɛkspɛnsɪv] (yeah) but I do like labels myself but I they are expensive [ɛkspɛnsɪv]) honEST, imagINE (0:14:59 we’re all the same it shouldn’t really make any difference, like, but l… like you say they do sort of they talk down till you because I think that some I think think you’re muck under their feet to be honest [ɒnəst]; 0:21:40 Brummies I absolutely hate that accent they just sound s… it makes them sound thick I just hate it soon as you hear them you just imagine [ɪmaʤən] somebody really stupid; 0:30:14 and I don’t think there’s any need for it to be honest [ɒnəst] I’ve never used the language mysel (I think) um but like you say it is a growing trend) DRESS [ɛ] (0:00:08 I work in the Oval Centre2 [oːvəɫ sɛntə] as a centre assistant [sɛntəɾ əsɪstənt] which uh means we set [sɛt] the tables out and do other things to keep the uh the centre [sɛntə] going; 0:18:21 and when [wɛn] she qui... comes over here for a holiday she just she’s talking one minute French [fɾɛnʧ] on the phone then the next [nɛkst] minute she’s just as if she’s back in Clifton and always been there again; 0:40:08 Cumbria’s the forgotten county we don’t get [gɪd] a weather forecast [wɛðə fɒːkast] we’ve we’ve got to go for Belfast [bɛɫfast] or southern Scotland because up north are Liverpool and Manchester [manʧɛstə] and then there’s nowt there’s thi… this invisible gap, like, where we live) ever, get, never, ready, together, yet (0:12:27 especially people from the south they say, “oh why why is a northerner on why can’t we have a southerner on?” because they think we’re rough and ready, [ɾʊf ən ɹɪdiː] you know, they think we’re common folk and we’re just the same as them it’s just our accents; 0:20:36 and they used to sometimes get [gɪd] at me about my accent I says, “ever heard yourselves talking [ɪvəɾ əːd jəsɛɫvz tɔːxn̩] over the radio, like?”; 0:21:27 I used to try and get [gɪt] them all singing at once and it was funny; 0:20:48 I says, “you’ll never ever get me change my accent [nɪvə ɪvə gɪt mi ʧeːnʤ maɪ aksɛnt] even though you can’t understand it” I said, “you’ll never ever get us to change it” [jəɫ nɪvəɾ ɪvə gɪt ʊs tə ʧeːnʤ ɪt]; 0:21:00 one of those things we got on well together, [təgɪðə] you know, the accents didn’t make any difference; 0:33:38 um I I never [nɪvə] realised for a long time but then when it was pointed out till us about, you know, it’s all about women, isn’t it, um like uh ‘son of a bitch’ and thing like that that’s against women and it’s just when I realised how awful the words are it and yet [jɪd] a lot a lot of women use them against theirsels; 0:30:14 and I don’t think there’s any need for it to be honest I’ve never [nɪvə] used the language mysel (I think) um but like you say it is a growing trend; 0:39:00 they either think you’re from Newcastle but it’s amazing how many people don’t know where Cumbria is but if you say ‘The Lake District’ they know but Cumbria they’ve never heard if it [nɛvəɹ əːd əv ɪʔ]; 0:39:38 I think it’s a good thing because, you know, it gets [gɪts] people interested I think um my accent anyways and you can relate till other people with the same accent if you go off somewhere else it’s like being back at home a bit if you meet somebody else from Cumbria; 0:40:08 Cumbria’s the forgotten county we don’t get [gɪd] a weather forecast we’ve we’ve got to go for Belfast or southern Scotland because up north are Liverpool and Manchester and then there’s nowt there’s thi… this invisible gap, like, where we live; 0:40:54 it was one of these you had to send send a order in for about twenty-five quid (oh right) and then send your thing back and you could’ve won you went in this prize draw so I told them to get lost, [gɪt lɒst] like; 0:46:24 they just let us use whichever hand [wɪʧɪvəɾ and] come natural for to write with parents didn’t stop us; 0:47:17 and I tried to get [gɪd] him to get [gɪd] a left handed-guitar but uh I done the wrong thing ’cause he is actually right-handed on the guitar and it the bl… the man who sold me the guitar said it would’ve made a big difference because you, you know, your brain works different for each

2 Community centre in Salterbeck, Workington.

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hand; 0:50:21 I know when my brother-in-law come over from Australia we tried to learn him how to say ‘worm’ how we say it round here we say “worm” and it was hilarious listening till him to try and say this “worm” and I don’t think he ever [ɪvə] got it off right) TRAP [a] (0:24:03 well you had to talk a bit proper when you were at school ’cause um they didn’t like you slanging [slaŋɪn] it or owt, like, but uh I never really got pulled up on my accent [aksɛnt] just if you started saying ‘lile’ for ‘little’ and things like that [ðat] and ‘babby’ [babi] instead of ‘baby’; 0:25:26 no, I just enj… just that I’ve just enjoyed the conversation round here the ‘crack’ [kɾak] as we might say in our dialect, you know, and I’ve really enjoyed it thanks [θaŋks] for inviting us; 0:36:33 I don’t know like you said there’s southerners thinks we’re all flat flat caps [flat kaps] and whippets, don’t they?) had, have (0:06:30 so we sa… I told them all to start and talk more more broad and I says, “unless you speak till us so that we can understand you you’ll have to just get on with it [juːl ɛftə ʤʊst gɛd ɒn wɪd ɪʰ] same as we have to with you” [seːm əz wi ɛftə wɪʤuː]; 0:06:46 we had, [wi ɛd] like, a bit of a compromise there where we didn’t slang it so much and they didn’t go into the Scottish lingo so much; 0:08:00 I think West Cumbrians all talk pretty fast anyway and anybody coming from out of the county if we’re slipping slang words in amongst it they have [av] just haven’t got a clue [avənʔ gɒɾ ə kləuː]; 0:12:27 especially people from the south they say, “oh why why is a northerner on why can’t we have [ɛv] a southerner on?” because they think we’re rough and ready, you know, they think we’re common folk and we’re just the same as them it’s just our accents; 0:24:03 well you had to talk a bit proper [jɛtə tɔːk ə bɪt pɹɒpə] when you were at school ’cause um they didn’t like you slanging it or owt, like, but uh I never really got pulled up on my accent just if you started saying ‘lile’ for ‘little’ and things like that and ‘babby’ instead of ‘baby’; 0:33:02 I don’t know I’ve I’m just wondering mysel if it would come out if if it would release it and all this anger mebbe that’s been built up inside of us for all these years if mebbe I would swear I don’t know we’ll mebbe have to have an experiment [ɛftə ɛv ən ɛkspɛɾɪmənt]; 0:59:19 ‘galoshes’ is uh what we used to use when we were doing PE at school if you you had to have your your shorts and your T-shirt on [jə ɛtə ɛv jə ʃɒːts ən jə təiʃʊt ɒn] and your galoshes and ‘galoshes’ is was um our word round here for ‘plimsolls’; 1:02:10 I can remember when my sister was growing up she used to wear these really uh pointed court shoes winkle-pickers and that and she used to to stop the points sort of going funny she used to have to stuff them all with newspaper [ʃɪ juːstə ɛftə stʊf əm ɒːɫ wɪd njuːzpɪəpə] and they looked that daft I sup… I suppose they were fashionable at the time) LOT [ɒ] (0:08:37 I mean I don’t really think I’ve got [gɒʔ] that strong [stɹɒŋg] a Cumbrian accent but when you hear yourself on tape it sounds really broad and I think a lot [lɒʔ] of people probably [pɹɒbəlɪ] struggle to understand you a lot [lɒʔ] of people think you’re Geordies; 0:18:21 and when she qui... comes over here for a holiday [hɒlidɛ] she just she’s talking one minute French on the phone then the next minute she’s just as if she’s back in Clifton and always been there again; 0:46:24 they just let us use whichever hand come natural for to write with parents didn’t stop [stɒp] us) not, was (0:07:15 and I’m not [nʊt] bothered about Queens’s English if he he wants to talk that well fine but I just thought, “well if you won’t talk right so at we can understand you we’re not [nʊt] going to talk right neither” so we all ganged up on him and it it settled him; 0:14:00 they say different words ’cause they have the slang words as well they’re proud of their accent which wh... why shouldn’t they be I mean they’re born and bred there so why should they not [nʊt] be proud of their accent and you just have to adjust, eh?; 0:16:33 he lost his broad Cumbrian acc… uh Australian accent and he was proper broad Cumbrian but Nathan the little one that was four you

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could still not [nʊt] understand him when he went back twelve month ago twe… twelve month later I should say; 0:22:31 I’m proud of my accent (yeah) and I don’t think we sh… I don’t think anybody should change I mean whether whether folk like it or not [nʊt]; 0:24:37 well to ‘throw’ I mean we would to say to ‘skop’ I mean but a lot of folk wouldn’t know what ‘skop’ was [wʊz] really so I mean it’s just things like that; 0:51:47 no, I don’t like being spoken down to not at all [nɒʔ ət ɒːɫ] (don’t think anybody really does, do they?); 1:01:11 (the little one’s only four and you can pay up to thirty pound for a pair of trainers) well when we were kids you just got owt that your mother and father could afford there was [wʊz] no labels as such then; 1:01:28 it was better, yeah, because there was no competition as to what you were wearing” or, “I’ve got the better s… trainer than you have” or “your trai… trainer’s not [nʊ͡tʔ] as good as mine” you know, I mean we all wore galoshes and that was it, like, and it was [wʊz] all the same sort elastic fell off round the edges or summat round the soles or (monkey boots)) peely-wally (0:26:01 oh I’ve got a one or two that it pulled out from the back of my mind ‘unwell’ I often say ‘peely-wally’ [piːlɪwaliː] for ‘unwell’) STRUT [ʊ] (0:16:22 Darren was about six and um within six week he’d lost his broad Australian accent ’cause we could hardly understand [ʊndəstand] him and his brother [bɾʊðə] when he come [kʊm] over when they come [kʊm] over; 0:39:11 I was once standing in a pub [pʊb] in London [lʊndən] and in this local pub [pʊb] and I ordered my drink and this fellow who was beside us he said, “oh I recognise that accent”; 0:36:57 I don’t think it’s hate and despise but you look on each other [iːʧ ʊðə] differently I mean the southerners [sʊðənəz] definitely look on us [ʊz] as being the poor relations and we look on them as being posh) amongst, ONE (0:08:00 I think West Cumbrians all talk pretty fast anyway and anybody coming from out of the county if we’re slipping slang words in amongst [əmɒŋst] it they have just haven’t got a clue; 0:09:44 when I’m on the phone I’m always polite, you know, I uh it’s summat just comes natural to us but once [wəns] I put that phone down I’m back till the uh the, you know, the local accent and that, like; 0:16:33 he lost his broad Cumbrian acc… uh Australian accent and he was proper broad Cumbrian but Nathan the little one [lɪʔɫ̟ wɒn] that was four you could still not understand him when he went back twelve month ago twe… twelve month later I should say; 0:18:21 and when she qui... comes over here for a holiday she just she’s talking one minute [wɒm mɪnɪʰ] French on the phone then the next minute she’s just as if she’s back in Clifton and always been there again; 0:21:00 one [wɒn] of those things we got on well together, you know, the accents didn’t make any difference; 0:21:27 I used to try and get them all singing at once [wɒns] and it was funny; 0:29:35 I think they swear a lot more today than what they ever did I mean I can remember when I was growing up you would never ever hear anybody swear and I […] no, I w… you would never hear your mam and dad swearing and none [nɒn] of my friends used to swear but now I think it’s the norm, isn’t it?; 0:29:56 kids think they’re big though uh lasses and lads they think they’re big if they swear and the the worse the swearing is the bigger they think they are and the more grown up they think they are and it just sounds rotten at times it sounds really degrading for them especially the lile ones [ʔlaːl ənz]; 0:40:30 I once [wɒns] got a letter through post and it said that I had won this prize and they’d marked it ‘up north’ and I wrote back and I says, “I don’t want the prize you can keep it if you think I live in Liverpool because I don’t live in Liverpool” and I marked where I lived at and I says, “this is where I live and don’t write till us again” they didn’t do; 0:01:11 the little one’s [lɪʔɫ̩ənz] only four and you can pay up to thirty pound for a pair of trainers (well when we were kids you just got owt that your mother and father could afford there was no labels as such then))

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FOOT [ʊ] (0:04:39 different when they’re with their mates but when they were speaking to me or hav... just having a general crack then I would [wʊd] try and s…, you know, pull them up [pʊɫ ðəm ʊp] with if it was very broad I would [wʊd] pull them up [pʊɫ ðəm ʊp]; 0:36:57 I don’t think it’s hate and despise but you look [lʊk] on each other differently I mean the southerners definitely look [lʊk] on us as being the poor relations and we look [lʊk] on them as being posh; 0:57:50 I think within about ten minutes we were, like, really good [gʊd] friends and we have been for about fifteen years and sometimes I don’t see her for, like, months but I know I could [kʊd] just ring her up and she would [wʊd] do anything for me and I’m the same with her I suppose) BATH [a] (0:08:00 I think West Cumbrians all talk pretty fast [fast] anyway and anybody coming from out of the county if we’re slipping slang words in amongst it they have just haven’t got a clue; 0:18:04 my um sister- in-law she lives in France [fɾans] she’s lived there about twenty years and she talks French with a E… with a Cumbrian accent; 0:57:08 I mean she’s really posh she isn’t when you know her she’s as daft as a brush [əz daft əz ə bɹʊʃ]) CLOTH [ɒ] (0:15:15 well my sister she moved away in 1971 she was always a Workington lass same as me and uh she moved till Australia and when she rings up now she hasn’t lost [lɒst] her English accent; 0:05:55 when you’re on the phone you’ve got to be more correct and but when I come off [ɒf] the phone I just reverted back to my own local accent and if nobody could understand us well tough they had to learn while they were in the office [ɒfɪs]; 0:37:09 I think you label people but that’s usually from your own perception of what you see on the television whatever you’ve watched on the television usually or whatever you’ve come across [əkɹɒs] in life) NURSE [əː] (0:01:27 I’ve lived in Workington for thirteen [θəːtiːn] years I was actually brought up in Yorkshire and I’m a neighbourhood warden with the neighbourhood support team; 0:10:06 and I just turned [təːnd] round and told them I said, “well you call me what you like” but I said, “when I’m in company uh I like to speak properly I was learnt [ləːnt] to speak properly and I can do it” I said, “whereas you people” I says, “you can’t even talk you can’t even talk your own dialect some of yous” so after that I never bothered it; 0:14:13 if you’re out in public you just try and curb [kəːb] it a lile bit so that other folk can understand you, you know, but the southerners don’t seem to think that though) first, shirt, work, Workington, worm, worse (0:01:27 I’ve lived in Workington [wəːkɪtn̩] for thirteen years I was actually brought up in Yorkshire and I’m a neighbourhood warden with the neighbourhood support team; 0:03:50 he’s moved to uh Liverpool from Kendal before Kendal he lived in Workington [wəːkɪntən] before Workington [wəːkn̩tən] he lived in Wales and he’s still only nine; 0:06:07 when I was w... um working [wəːkən] as a textile worker in uh Supermoor [tɛkstaɪɫ wəːkəɾ ɪn əː suːpəmuːʷə] there was um a fellow he was our manager and he was called Alasdair and he was from Scotland; 0:13:48 Harry’s got a different accent till us I mean when I was first [fʊst] fifteen and I left school um I went to work [wʊk] at Maryport and I’ve always been in Workington [wʊkɪtn̩]; 0:14:53 our accents is it’s just from where we’re from and it doesn’t make us any worse [wʊs] than them and it doesn’t make us any better than them; 0:15:15 well my sister she moved away in 1971 she was always a Workington [wʊkɪtn̩] lass same as me and uh she moved till Australia and when she rings up now she hasn’t lost her English accent; 0:45:18 and they said, “try with your right hand because you might hit the board then” and I was even worse [wʊs] than with the right hand than the left hand I never even hit the tyre round the board; 0:50:21 I know when my brother-in-law come over from Australia we tried to learn him how to say ‘worm’

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[wəːm] how we say it round here we say “worm” [wʊɾm̟] and it was hilarious listening till him to try and say this “worm” [wʊɾm̟] and I don’t think he ever got it off right; 0:59:19 ‘galoshes’ is uh what we used to use when we were doing PE at school if you you had to have your your shorts and your T-shirt [təiʃʊt] on and your galoshes and ‘galoshes’ is was um our word round here for ‘plimsolls’) FLEECE [iː > əi]3 (0:01:27 I’ve lived in Workington for thirteen [θəːtiːn] years I was actually brought up in Yorkshire and I’m a neighbourhood warden with the neighbourhood support team [tiːm]; 0:04:15 I was noticing at the weekend [wiːkɛnd] when he came up anything that was ‘good’ was ‘boss’ and I’d never heard that before even on television I’d never heard that; 0:06:57 we started speaking [spəikn̩] broader to wind him up because he he was saying that when we were trying to talk a bit decent [dəisənt] for him that we he still couldn’t understand us and I think he wanted to s… us to talk Queen’s English [kwiːnz ɪŋglɪʃ] so that he could understand us; 0:30:14 and I don’t think there’s any need [nəid] for it to be honest I’ve never used the language mysel (I think) um but like you say it is a growing trend) been (0:33:02 I don’t know I’ve I’m just wondering mysel if it would come out if if it would release it and all this anger mebbe that’s been [bəin] built up inside of us for all these years if mebbe I would swear I don’t know we’ll mebbe have to have an experiment; 0:53:26 (we work in and around where we live I think more in) yeah, you tend to get a lot of the same families that’ve been [bɪn] in the same villages for years and years, haven’t you, they don’t really move about a lot) FACE [eː > ɪə] (0:00:08 I work in the Oval Centre2 as a centre assistant which uh means we set the tables [tɪəbɫ̩z] out and do other things to keep the uh the centre going; 0:03:50 he’s moved to uh Liverpool from Kendal before Kendal he lived in Workington before Workington he lived in Wales [wɪəɫz] and he’s still only nine; 0:29:24 I don’t know if there’s a rise in a rise but uh I think it’s more noticeable in kids now but maybe [meːbɪ] that’s just because I’ve grew up so and I’m noticing how much the kids swear uh today [tədeː]; 0:32:09 (a swear-word implies summat not nice really, you know, so) I think it’s great [gɾeːt] to say [seː] the F-word if you’re in a bad mood (oh yeah, definitely) I think just saying [seːən] the F-word ov… over again it just releases summat; 0:36:57 I don’t think it’s hate [heːʔ] and despise but you look on each other differently I mean the southerners definitely look on us as being the poor relations [ɹɪleːʃənz] and we look on them as being posh; 0:45:46 just paid [peːd] my money for the charity that we had to pay [pɪə] for to enter and that was it, that like, it was like a donation [doːneːʃən]) always (0:09:44 when I’m on the phone I’m always [ɔːləs] polite, you know, I uh it’s summat just comes natural to us but once I put that phone down I’m back till the uh the, you know, the local accent and that, like; 0:13:48 Harry’s got a different accent till us I mean when I was first fifteen and I left school um I went to work at Maryport and I’ve always [ɔːwəs] been in Workington; 0:15:29 but she’s still got her English accent and when she was a telesales um operator over in Australia she used to get a lot of folk saying you were from England because they could always [ɒːwəs] understand her accent and they knew exactly where she come from ’cause she has no Australian accent at all; 0:28:58 I always [əʊwɪz] say I’m ‘dying’ “I’m dying” that’s what I say when I’ve got hangover; 0:41:58 no, ’cause I’ve always [ɔːwəz] went for a local job and it’s always [ɔːwəs] been um a local firm with local accents and that round here so it’s never really come intill it that way) Aspatria (0:39:23 and so I said, “go on then guess where am I from” and he went, “Cumbria” and I said, “how did you know?” and he said, “I’s from Aspatria, lass” [az fjəm spjaʔɹi las])

3 One speaker (Ann) varies between [əi ~ iː]; the other speakers consistently use [iː].

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<-day>, eh, make, take (0:14:00 they say different words ’cause they have the slang words as well they’re proud of their accent which wh... why shouldn’t they be I mean they’re born and bred there so why should they not be proud of their accent and you just have to adjust, eh? [ɛ]; 0:14:53 our accents is it’s just from where we’re from and it doesn’t make [mɛk] us any worse than them and it doesn’t make us any better than them; 0:18:21 and when she qui... comes over here for a holiday [hɒlidɛ] she just she’s talking one minute French on the phone then the next minute she’s just as if she’s back in Clifton and always been there again; 0:21:00 one of those things we got on well together, you know, the accents didn’t make [mɛk] any difference; 0:30:21 I’ve noticed a lot of swearing in kids in villages I don’t think they they take [teːk] they take [tɛk] it so serious um they let their kids swear that’s what I’ve noticed but uh, you know, in little villages more so; 0:35:42 well as soon as we open our mouth a northerner a southerner despises you really ’cause like I say y… they think you’re common we’re just the same as them a lot of s… I suppose a lot of northerners’ll think southerners is too posh or summat I don’t know but it’s just one of them things, eh? [ɛ]; 0:46:31 I’ve heard my mam say um they used to make [meːk] you use your right hand if you were left-handed which I think is wrong because I mean your brain works different, doesn’t it, if you’re right-handed or left-handed (yeah) so I think that must’ve really confused people and really held them back) they (0:14:00 they [ðeː] say different words ’cause they [ði] have the slang words as well they’re proud of their accent which wh... why shouldn’t they [ðə] be I mean they’re born and bred there so why should they [ðə] not be proud of their accent and you just have to adjust, eh?; 0:29:56 kids think they’re big though uh lasses and lads they [ðɛ] think they’re big if they [ðə] swear and the the worse the swearing is the bigger they [ðeː] think they [ðɛɪ] are and the more grown up they [ðə] think they [ði] are and it just sounds rotten at times it sounds really degrading for them especially the lile ones; 0:30:21 I’ve noticed a lot of swearing in kids in villages I don’t think they [ðə] they [ðə] take they [ðə] take it so serious um they [ðə] let their kids swear that’s what I’ve noticed but uh, you know, in little villages more so; 0:31:23 if they [ði] hear a word on telly (aye, it does, yeah) that becomes popular suddenly all the kids start saying it, don’t they, [doːnt ðə] like, “you’re a slapper” or, “you’re a minger”; 0:36:33 I don’t know like you said there’s southerners thinks we’re all flat flat caps and whippets, don’t they? [doːnt ðə]; 0:58:37 well I always say ‘ginnel’ I never I wouldn’t think ‘alley’ (I think they s… call them ‘ginnels’ in Kendal) do they? [də ðə] (yeah, or ‘yards’ or whatever)) PALM [aː > ɑː] (0:22:15 just the really when they start going intill all this Cockney rhyme and all that I mean folk up here doesn’t understand it I don’t think half [aːf] of the southerners understand it neither; 0:25:40 tara [təɹɑː] (tara, Harry [taɾɑːɾ aɾi]) (see you) (bye) (tara [taɾaː])) can’t, father, half past (0:06:15 and he started saying, “well we can’t [kaːn] understand you can you not sort of speak a bit more proper so that me and Bob” another fellow from Scotland “can understand you?”; 0:08:55 um I’ve found that I have to change my accent sometimes I mean I work a lot with the youth and so I keep my broad accent um but then when I’m I go till Ulverston which isn’t very far away the a lot of them can’t [kaːnʔ] really understand us and they they ask me where I’m from; 0:11:04 and I th… you can’t [kant] be coming out if you’re in meetings or talking to somebody with responsibility just coming out with ‘gaing’ and ‘louping’ and, you know, the the normal way people the way you talk if you were just talking in a conversation I think you alter it to the people that you’re with; 0:49:02 I was up at se… half past seven [af past sɛvən] quarter to eight this morning I was wide awake; 1:01:11 (the little one’s only four and you can pay up to

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thirty pound for a pair of trainers) well when we were kids you just got owt that your mother and father [faðə] could afford there was no labels as such then) THOUGHT [ɒː] (0:01:27 I’ve lived in Workington for thirteen years I was actually brought [bɹɒːt] up in Yorkshire and I’m a neighbourhood warden with the neighbourhood support team; 0:18:21 and when she qui... comes over here for a holiday she just she’s talking [tɒːkn̩] one minute French on the phone then the next minute she’s just as if she’s back in Clifton and always been there again; 0:40:54 it was one of these you had to send send a order in for about twenty-five quid (oh right) and then send your thing back and you could’ve won you went in this prize draw [pɹaɪz dɹɒː] so I told them to get lost, like) alter, Australia, Salterbeck (0:00:55 I’m on the committee for the SRA which is the Salterbeck Residents’ Association [sɒɫtəbɛk ɾɛzɪdənts əsoːʃieːʃn̩] and subcommittees; 0:11:04 and I th… you can’t be coming out if you’re in meetings or talking to somebody with responsibility just coming out with ‘gaing’ and ‘louping’ and, you know, the the normal way people the way you talk if you were just talking in a conversation I think you alter it [ɒɫtəɹ ɪt] to the people that you’re with; 0:15:29 but she’s still got her English accent and when she was a telesales um operator over in Australia [ɒstɹeːliə] she used to get a lot of folk saying you were from England because they could always understand her accent and they knew exactly where she come from ’cause she has no Australian [ɒstɹeːliən] accent at all) GOAT [oː > ʊə] (0:06:30 so we sa… I told [toːɫd] them all to start and talk more more broad and I says, “unless you speak till us so that we can understand you you’ll have to just get on with it same as we have to with you”; 0:09:44 when I’m on the phone [foːn] I’m always polite, you know, [jə noː] I uh it’s summat just comes natural to us but once I put that phone down I’m back till the uh the, you know, [jə noː] the local [loːkəɫ] accent and that, like; 0:14:13 if you’re out in public you just try and curb it a lile bit so that other folk [fʊək] can understand you, you know, [jə noː] but the southerners don’t [doːnt] seem to think that though [ðoː]; 0:47:17 and I tried to get him to get a left-handed guitar but uh I done the wrong thing ’cause he is actually right-handed on the guitar and it the bl… the man who sold [soːɫd] me the guitar said it would’ve made a big difference because you, you know, your brain works different for each hand) don’t (know) (0:36:33 I don’t know [dənoː] like you said there’s southerners thinks we’re all flat flat caps and whippets, don’t they?) going to (0:07:15 and I’m not bothered about Queens’s English if he he wants to talk that well fine but I just thought, “well if you won’t talk right so at we can understand you we’re not going to [gʊnə] talk right neither” so we all ganged up on him and it it settled him; 0:07:51 if you’ve got an accent you’re born with that accent and the accent’s going to [gʊnə] come through but it’s when you use different words for different things it it’s difficult for people to understand; 0:38:20 and I think they think that ’cause we live in West Cumbria near Sellafield we’re going to [gʊnə] light up) open, over, post (0:15:29 but she’s still got her English accent and when she was a telesales um operator over in Australia [ɒvəɾ ɪn ɒstɹeːliə] she used to get a lot of folk saying you were from England because they could always understand her accent and they knew exactly where she come from ’cause she has no Australian accent at all; 0:16:22 Darren was about six and um within six week he’d lost his broad Australian accent ’cause we could hardly understand him and his brother when he come over [ɒvə] when they come over [ɒvə]; 0:18:21 and when she qui... comes over here [ɒvəɾ iə] for a holiday she just she’s talking one minute French on the phone then the next minute she’s just as if she’s back in Clifton and always been there again; 0:20:36 and they used to sometimes get at me about my accent I says, “ever heard yourselves talking over the radio, [ɒvə ðə ɹeːdioː] like?”; 0:32:09 (a swear-word implies summat not nice really, you know, so) I think it’s

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great to say the F-word if you’re in a bad mood (oh yeah, definitely) I think just saying the F-word ov… over again [oːvəɹ əgɛn] it just releases summat; 0:35:42 well as soon as we open [ɒpən] our mouth a northerner a southerner despises you really ’cause like I say y… they think you’re common we’re just the same as them a lot of s… I suppose a lot of northerners’ll think southerners is too posh or summat I don’t know but it’s just one of them things, eh?; 0:37:37 it doesn’t make me hate or despise anybody I work with people from London from all ov…, [ɒv] you know, all over the place [ɒːl ɒvə ðə pleːs] and, no, it the their accent doesn’t make me think any different of them at all; 0:40:30 I once got a letter through post [pɒst] and it said that I had won this prize and they’d marked it ‘up north’ and I wrote back and I says, “I don’t want the prize you can keep it if you think I live in Liverpool because I don’t live in Liverpool” and I marked where I lived at and I says, “this is where I live and don’t write till us again” they didn’t do) <-ow>, plimsoll (0:06:15 and he started saying, “well we can’t understand you can you not sort of speak a bit more proper so that me and Bob” another fellow [fɛlə] from Scotland “can understand you?”; 0:39:11 I was once standing in a pub in London and in this local pub and I ordered my drink and this fellow who was beside us [fɛləɾ uː wəz bɪsaɪd əz] he said, “oh I recognise that accent”; 0:59:19 ‘galoshes’ is uh what we used to use when we were doing PE at school if you you had to have your your shorts and your T-shirt on and your galoshes and ‘galoshes’ is was um our word round here for ‘plimsolls’ [pɹɪmsəɫz]) so (0:06:46 we had, like, a bit of a compromise there where we didn’t slang it so much [sə mʊʧ] and they didn’t go into the Scottish lingo so much [sə mʊʧ]; 0:30:21 I’ve noticed a lot of swearing in kids in villages I don’t think they they take they take it so serious [sə siːɾiəs] um they let their kids swear that’s what I’ve noticed but uh, you know, in little villages more so [mɒː soː]) GOOSE [uː ~ əuː > ɪuː ~ ʉː] (0:08:00 I think West Cumbrians all talk pretty fast anyway and anybody coming from out of the county if we’re slipping slang words in amongst it they have just haven’t got a clue [kləuː]; 0:08:55 um I’ve found that I have to change my accent sometimes I mean I work a lot with the youth [jɪuːθ] and so I keep my broad accent um but then when I’m I go till Ulverston which isn’t very far away the a lot of them can’t really understand us and they they ask me where I’m from; 0:29:24 I don’t know if there’s a rise in a rise but uh I think it’s more noticeable in kids now but maybe that’s just because I’ve grew up [gɾɪuː ʊp] so and I’m noticing how much the kids swear uh today; 0:46:31 I’ve heard my mam say um they used [juːstə] to make you use [juːz] your right hand if you were left-handed which I think is wrong because I mean your brain works different, doesn’t it, if you’re right-handed or left-handed (yeah) so I think that must’ve really confused [kɒɱfjuːzd] people and really held them back; 0:47:44 and this lass I was about nine or ten in junior school [ʤəuːniə skʉːɫ] and she says, “please, sir, Ann’s using [jəuːzn̩] the wrong hand she’s using [jəuːzn̩] the left hand for to do it [fɒ tə dəuː ɪt];1:00:05 kids still wear them now black they were them for school [skʉːɫ] for indoor they call them their ‘indoors’ but the kids still do wear ‘galoshes’ (yeah) (is that the ones with the elastic on top?) (yeah) no, any) do, to, you (0:18:56 if somebody came in now even though I haven’t lived at Yorkshire for a long time if somebody came to me and started talking to me [tɒːkɪn tə mɪ] within five minutes I’d be a lot broader Yorkshire; 0:22:01 you know, growing up you you change but you, you know, your likes and your dislikes but Geordies (yeah, you like to you like Geordies?) no, not now (not now) no, I used to [a juːstə]; 0:45:46 just paid my money for the charity that we had to pay for to enter and that was it, [fɒ tə ɛntəɾn̩ ðat wəz ɪt] that like, it was like a donation; 0:51:47 no, I don’t like being spoken down to [spoːkən daʊn tə] not at all (don’t think anybody really does, do they?); 0:58:37 well I always say ‘ginnel’ I never I wouldn’t think ‘alley’ (I think they s… call them ‘ginnels’ in Kendal) do they? [də ðə] (yeah, or ‘yards’ or whatever); 0:08:11 I think a lot of the

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time it’s courteous to try and talk a little not so much properly but so they can understand you [jə] it’s a bit easier, isn’t it?) PRICE [aɪ > aɛ > aː] (0:14:13 if you’re out in public you just try [tɹaɪ] and curb it a lile [laːl] bit so that other folk can understand you, you know, but the southerners don’t seem to think that though; 0:22:01 you know, growing up you you change but you, you know, your likes [laɪks] and your dislikes [dɪslaɪks] but Geordies (yeah, you like to you like Geordies?) no, not now (not now) no, I used to; 0:25:26 no, I just enj… just that I’ve just enjoyed the conversation round here the ‘crack’ as we might [maɪt] say in our dialect, [daɪəlɛkt] you know, and I’ve really enjoyed it thanks for inviting [ɪnvaɪtn̩] us; 0:29:24 I don’t know if there’s a rise [ɾaɛz] in a rise [ɾaɛz] but uh I think it’s more noticeable in kids now but maybe that’s just because I’ve grew up so and I’m noticing how much the kids swear uh today; 0:36:57 I don’t think it’s hate and despise [dɪspaɪz] but you look on each other differently I mean the southerners definitely look on us as being the poor relations and we look on them as being posh) my (0:05:55 when you’re on the phone you’ve got to be more correct and but when I come off the phone I just reverted back to my [mi] own local accent and if nobody could understand us well tough they had to learn while they were in the office; 0:15:44 I think you pick a lot of it up at school because my [maɪ] sister never went to school here when we came from Yorkshire and she still talks very posh and Yorkshire and so does my [mɪ] mam but me and my [mɪ] brother both went to school in Cockermouth and we we’re a lot more Cumbrian; 0:20:11 in my [maɪ] tank crew there was uh a Scotchman there was a Geordie myself [mɪsɛɫf] and a lad from uh Devon; 0:24:03 well you had to talk a bit proper when you were at school ’cause um they didn’t like you slanging it or owt, like, but uh I never really got pulled up on my [mi] accent just if you started saying ‘lile’ for ‘little’ and things like that and ‘babby’ instead of ‘baby’; 0:27:16 (yeah, I I mean I have a tendency to use the F-word quite a lot when I’m uh) yeah, yeah, I do (I do as well) my [ma] brother disowns me he won’t talk till us when I’m drunk; 0:33:02 I don’t know I’ve I’m just wondering mysel [mɪsɛɫ] if it would come out if if it would release it and all this anger mebbe that’s been built up inside of us for all these years if mebbe I would swear I don’t know we’ll mebbe have to have an experiment; 0:39:11 I was once standing in a pub in London and in this local pub and I ordered my [mɪ] drink and this fellow who was beside us he said, “oh I recognise that accent”; 0:45:46 just paid my [mɪ] money for the charity that we had to pay for to enter and that was it, like, it was like a donation; 0:49:59 I used to stay a lot with my cousin in the army and um I so I used to put my [mi] accent on more; 1:00:39 expensive (yeah) but I do like labels myself [mɪsɛɫf] but I they are expensive) tyre (0:45:18 and they said, “try with your right hand because you might hit the board then” and I was even worse I was even worse than with the right hand than the left hand I never even hit the tyre [taɪə] round the board) CHOICE [ɔɪ ~ ɒɪ] (0:25:26 no, I just enj… just that I’ve just enjoyed [ɛnʤɔɪd] the conversation round here the ‘crack’ as we might say in our dialect, you know, and I’ve really enjoyed [ɛnʤɔɪd] it thanks for inviting us; 1:02:10 I can remember when my sister was growing up she used to wear these really uh pointed [pɒɪntɪd] court shoes winkle-pickers and that and she used to to stop the points [pɒɪnts] sort of going funny she used to have to stuff them all with newspaper and they looked that daft I sup… I suppose they were fashionable at the time) MOUTH [aʊ] (0:40:08 Cumbria’s the forgotten county [kaʊntəi] we don’t get a weather forecast we’ve we’ve got to go for Belfast or southern Scotland because up north are Liverpool and Manchester and then there’s nowt

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[naʊt] there’s thi… this invisible gap, like, where we live; 0:58:45 no, now [naʊ] a ‘yard’s uh a ‘back yard’ back of your house [aʊs] but where my sister lives in Australia your ‘yard’ is your ‘garden’; 1:01:11 (the little’un’s only four and you can pay up to thirty pound [paʊnd] for a pair of trainers) well when we were kids you just got owt [aʊt] that your mother and father could afford there was no labels as such then) our (0:25:26 no, I just enj… just that I’ve just enjoyed the conversation round here the ‘crack’ as we might say in our [aʊə] dialect, you know, and I’ve really enjoyed it thanks for inviting us; 0:59:19 ‘galoshes’ is uh what we used to use when we were doing PE at school if you you had to have your your shorts and your T-shirt on and your galoshes and ‘galoshes’ is was um our [aʊə] word round here for ‘plimsolls’) NEAR [iə ~ ɪə > əiə ~ ɪː]4 (0:08:37 I mean I don’t really [ɹɪːlɪ] think I’ve got that strong a Cumbrian accent but when you hear [ɪː] yourself on tape it sounds really broad and I think a lot of people probably struggle to understand you a lot of people think you’re Geordies; 0:25:26 no, I just enj… just that I’ve just enjoyed the conversation round here [ɪə] the ‘crack’ as we might say in our dialect, you know, and I’ve really enjoyed it thanks for inviting us; 0:24:46 ‘kit of tools’ we’ve got ‘gear’ [gəiə] ‘words that you’ve forgotten’ or uh ‘whose name you’ve forgotten’ ‘thingummyjig’ but a lot of folk wouldn’t know that round unless they were round from round here [əiə] mebbe it would be in other dialects I don’t know; 0:29:35 I think they swear a lot more today than what they ever did I mean I can remember when I was growing up you would never ever hear [iə] anybody swear and I […] no, I w… you would never hear [ɪə] your mam and dad swearing and none of my friends used to swear but now I think it’s the norm, isn’t it?) realise, really, serious (0:08:37 I mean I don’t really [ɹɪːlɪ] think I’ve got that strong a Cumbrian accent but when you hear yourself on tape it sounds really broad and I think a lot of people probably struggle to understand you a lot of people think you’re Geordies; 0:30:21 I’ve noticed a lot of swearing in kids in villages I don’t think they they take they take it so serious [siːɾiəs] um they let their kids swear that’s what I’ve noticed but uh, you know, in little villages more so; 0:33:38 um I I never realised [ɹiːlaɪzd] for a long time but then when it was pointed out till us about, you know, it’s all about women, isn’t it, um like uh ‘son of a bitch’ and thing like that that’s against women and it’s just when I realised [ɹiːlaɪzd] how awful the words are it and yet a lot a lot of women use them against theirsels; 0:53:26 (we work in and around where we live I think more in) yeah, you tend to get a lot of the same families that’ve been in the same villages for years and years, haven’t you, they don’t really [ɹiːli] move about a lot) year (0:01:27 I’ve lived in Workington for thirteen years [jəːz] I was actually brought up in Yorkshire and I’m a neighbourhood warden with the neighbourhood support team; 0:18:04 my um sister-in-law she lives in France she’s lived there about twenty years [jəːz] and she talks French with a E… with a Cumbrian accent; 0:53:26 (we work in and around where we live I think more in) yeah, you tend to get a lot of the same families that’ve been in the same villages for years and years, [jəːz ən jəːz] haven’t you, they don’t really move about a lot) SQUARE [ɛː] (0:29:56 kids think they’re big though uh lasses and lads they think they’re big if they swear and [swɛːɾn̩] the the worse the swearing [swɛːɾn̩] is the bigger they think they are and the more grown up they think they are and it just sounds rotten at times it sounds really degrading for them especially the lile ones; 0:50:21 I know when my brother-in-law come over from Australia we tried to learn him how to say ‘worm’ how we say it round here we say “worm” and it was hilarious [ɪlɛːɾiəs] listening till him to try and say this “worm” and I don’t think he ever got it off right; 1:01:11 the little one’s only four and you can

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http://sounds.bl.uk Page 17 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings pay up to thirty pound for a pair of trainers [pɛːɾ ə tɹeːnəz] (well when we were kids you just got owt that your mother and father could afford there was no labels as such then)) START [aː] (0:16:22 Darren was about six and um within six week he’d lost his broad Australian accent ’cause we could hardly [aːdli] understand him and his brother when he come over when they come over; 0:47:17 and I tried to get him to get a left-handed guitar [gɪtaː] but uh I done the wrong thing ’cause he is actually right-handed on the guitar [gɪtaː] and it the bl… the man who sold me the guitar [gɪtaː] said it would’ve made a big difference because you, you know, your brain works different for each hand; 0:49:59 I used to stay a lot with my cousin in the army [aːmi] and um I so I used to put my accent on more) NORTH [ɒː > ɔː] (0:01:27 I’ve lived in Workington for thirteen years I was actually brought up in Yorkshire [jɒːkʃə] and I’m a neighbourhood warden [neːbɹʊd wɒːdn̩] with the neighbourhood support team; 0:39:11 I was once standing in a pub in London and in this local pub and I ordered [ɒːdəd] my drink and this fellow who was beside us he said, “oh I recognise that accent”; 0:49:02 I was up at se… half past seven quarter to eight [kwɔːt tɛɪt] this morning [mɔːnən] I was wide awake) for (0:00:55 I’m on the committee for [fɒ] the SRA which is the Salterbeck Residents’ Association and subcommittees; 0:06:57 we started speaking broader to wind him up because he he was saying that when we were trying to talk a bit decent for him [fɒɾ ɪm] that we he still couldn’t understand us and I think he wanted to us to s… talk Queen’s English so that he could understand us; 0:30:14 and I don’t think there’s any need for it [fɒɾ ɪt] to be honest I’ve never used the language mysel (I think) um but like you say it is a growing trend; 0:45:46 just paid my money for the charity [fɒ ðə ʧaɾətɪ] that we had to pay for to enter and that was it, [fɒ tə ɛntəɾn̩ ðat wəz ɪt] that like, it was like a donation; 0:46:24 they just let us use whichever hand come natural for to write with [fɒ tə ɹaɪʔ wɪð] parents didn’t stop us; 0:47:44 and this lass I was about nine or ten in junior school and she says, “please, sir, Ann’s using the wrong hand she’s using the left hand for to do it [fɒ tə dəuː ɪt]; 0:57:50 I think within about ten minutes we were, like, really good friends and we have been for about [fəɹ abaʊʔ] fifteen years and sometimes I don’t see her for, [fɒ] like, months but I know I could just ring her up and she would do anything for [fɒ] me and I’m the same with her I suppose; 0:48:02 so I used to pluck the violin so obviously I would do the same with a g… guitar left-handed even though I’m right-handed for to write with [fɒ tə ɹaɪʔ wɪd]) or (0:26:01 oh I’ve got a one or two [ə wɒn ə tuː] that it pulled out from the back of my mind ‘unwell’ I often say ‘peely-wally’ for ‘unwell’; 0:37:37 it doesn’t make me hate or despise [heːt ə dɪspaɪz] anybody I work with people from London from all ov…, you know, all over the place and, no, it the their accent doesn’t make me think any different of them at all) FORCE [ɒː] (0:01:27 I’ve lived in Workington for thirteen years I was actually brought up in Yorkshire and I’m a neighbourhood warden with the neighbourhood support team [neːbɹʊd səpɒːt tiːm]; 0:28:14 say there’s a group of people talking and they’re swearing I tend to swear and swear more [mɒːɾ əz] as well; 0:40:08 Cumbria’s the forgotten county we don’t get a weather forecast [wɛðə fɒːkast] we’ve we’ve got to go for Belfast or southern Scotland because up north are Liverpool and Manchester and then there’s nowt there’s thi… this invisible gap, like, where we live; 1:01:11 the little one’s only four [fɒː] and you can pay up to thirty pound for a pair of trainers (well when we were kids you just got owt that your mother and father could afford [əfɒːd] there was no labels as such then)) 5 CURE [uˑ(ʷ)ə > ɪʊ(ʷ)ə]

5 All tokens with [ɪʊ(ʷ)ə] supplied by Ann.

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(0:06:07 when I was w... um working as a textile worker in uh Supermoor [suːpəmuˑʷə] there was um a fellow he was our manager and he was called Alasdair and he was from Scotland; 0:23:23 I know of travellers I know a a lot of travellers (so what was that word you said before?) like well they would call the ‘muskras’ and for ‘police’ and and ‘nash’ but I think some of that comes from Carlisle as well […] a ‘buer’ I think for ‘girl’ [bjɪʊʷəɾ a θɪŋk fə gəːɫ] I’m (in Carlisle, yeah) I’m not sure [ʃɪʊʷə] but I I used to know a lot of the words but I I I’ve forgot them now; 0:36:57 I don’t think it’s hate and despise but you look on each other differently I mean the southerners definitely look on us as being the poor [puˑə] relations and we look on them as being posh) happY [ɪ ~ i(ː) > əi]6 (0:00:55 I’m on the committee [kəmɪtɪ] for the SRA which is the Salterbeck Residents’ Association and subcommittees [sʊbkəmɪtiz]; 0:08:00 I think West Cumbrians all talk pretty [pɹɪtɪ] fast anyway and anybody [ɛnɪbɒdɪ] coming from out of the county [kaʊnti] if we’re slipping slang words in amongst it they have just haven’t got a clue; 0:12:27 especially [əspɛʃlɪ] people from the south they say, “oh why why is a northerner on why can’t we have a southerner on?” because they think we’re rough and ready, [ɾʊf ən ɹɪdiː] you know, they think we’re common folk and we’re just the same as them it’s just our accents; 0:16:22 Darren was about six and um within six week he’d lost his broad Australian accent ’cause we could hardly [aːdli] understand him and his brother when he come over when they come over; 0:40:08 Cumbria’s the forgotten county [kaʊntəi] we don’t get a weather forecast we’ve we’ve got to go for Belfast or southern Scotland because up north are Liverpool and Manchester and then there’s nowt there’s thi… this invisible gap, like, where we live; 0:45:46 just paid my money [mʊnɪ] for the charity [ʧaɾətɪ] that we had to pay for to enter and that was it, like, it was like a donation) lettER~commA [ə] (0:02:58 ‘knickers’ [nɪkəz] is ‘knickers’ [nɪkəz] and a lot of folk call ‘knickers’ [nɪkəz] ‘pants’ ‘trousers’ [tɹaʊzəz] is ‘pants’ till us where a lot of folk call them ‘trousers’ [tɹaʊzəz]; 0:15:15 well my sister [sɪstə] she moved away in 1971 she was always a Workington lass same as me and uh she moved till Australia [ɒstɹreːliə] and when she rings up now she hasn’t lost her English accent; 1:01:11 (the little one’s only four and you can pay up to thirty pound for a pair of trainers [tɹeːnəz]) well when we were kids you just got owt that your mother and father [mʊðəɾn̩ faðə] could afford there was no labels as such then) horsES [ɪ] (0:29:56 kids think they’re big though uh lasses [lasɪz] and lads they think they’re big if they swear and the worse the swearing is the bigger they think they are and the more grown up they think they are and it just sounds rotten at times it sounds really degrading for them especially the lile ones; 0:30:21 I’ve noticed a lot of swearing in kids in villages [vɪlɪʤɪz] I don’t think they they take they take it so serious um they let their kids swear that’s what I’ve noticed but uh, you know, in little villages [vɪlɪʤɪz] more so) galoshes (1:00:05 kids still wear them now black they were them for school for indoor they call them their ‘indoors’ but the kids still do wear ‘galoshes’ [glɒʃəz] (yeah) (is that the ones with the elastic on top?) (yeah) no, any) startED [ɪ] (0:24:03 well you had to talk a bit proper when you were at school ’cause um they didn’t like you slanging it or owt, like, but uh I never really got pulled up on my accent just if you started [staːtɪd] saying ‘lile’ for ‘little’ and things like that and ‘babby’ instead of ‘baby’; 0:33:38 um I I never realised for a long time but then when it was pointed [pɔɪntɪd] out till us about, you know, it’s all about women, isn’t it, um like uh ‘son of a bitch’ and thing like that that’s against women and it’s just when I realised how awful the words are it and yet a lot a lot of women use them against theirsels)

6 All tokens with [əi] supplied by Ann.

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 19 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings mornING [ə ~ n̩ > ɪ] (0:00:08 I work in the Oval Centre2 as a centre assistant which uh means we set the tables out and do other things to keep the uh the centre going [goːən]; 0:04:15 I was noticing [noːtsɪn] at the weekend when he came up anything [ɛnɪθɪn] that was ‘good’ was ‘boss’ and I’d never heard that before even on television I’d never heard that; 0:11:04 and I th… you can’t be coming [kʊmən] out if you’re in meetings [miːtɪnz] or talking [tɔːkən] to somebody with responsibility just coming [kʊmən] out with ‘gaing’ [gaːən] and ‘louping’ [laʊpən] and, you know, the the normal way people the way you talk if you were just talking [tɔːkən] in a conversation I think you alter it to the people that you’re with; 0:25:26 no, I just enj… just that I’ve just enjoyed the conversation round here the ‘crack’ as we might say in our dialect, you know, and I’ve really enjoyed it thanks for inviting [ɪnvaɪtn̩] us; 0:29:56 kids think they’re big though uh lasses and lads they think they’re big if they swear and the the worse the swearing [swɛːɾn̩] is the bigger they think they are and the more grown up they think they are and it just sounds rotten at times it sounds really degrading [dɪgɾeːdn̩] for them especially the lile ones)

VARIABLE RHOTICITY7 (0:29:24 I don’t know if there’s a rise in a rise but uh I think it’s more [mɒː] noticeable in kids now but maybe that’s just because I’ve grew up so and I’m noticing how much the kids swear [swɛːɾ] uh today; 0:30:21 I’ve noticed a lot of swearing in kids in villages I don’t think they they take they take it so serious um they let their [ðə] kids swear [swɛːɾ] that’s what I’ve noticed but uh, you know, in little villages more so [mɒː soː]; 0:33:38 um I I never realised for a long time but then when it was pointed out till us about, you know, it’s all about women, isn’t it, um like uh ‘son of a bitch’ and thing like that that’s against women and it’s just when I realised how awful the words are [aːɾ] it and yet a lot a lot of women use them against theirsels; 0:49:59 I used to stay a lot with my cousin in the army [aːmi] and um I so I used to put my accent on more [mɒːɾ]; 0:50:21 I know when my brother-in-law come over [ɒvə] from Australia we tried to learn [ləːn] him how to say ‘worm’ [wəːm] how we say it round here [ɾaʊnd əiə] we say “worm” [wʊɾm̟] and it was hilarious listening till him to try and say this “worm” [wʊɾm̟] and I don’t think he ever [ɪvə] got it off right)

PLOSIVES

T frequent word final T-glottaling (e.g. 0:08:37 I mean I don’t really think I’ve got [gɒʔ] that strong a Cumbrian accent but when you hear yourself on tape it sounds really broad and I think a lot [lɒʔ] of people probably struggle to understand you a lot [lɒʔ] of people think you’re Geordies; 0:46:24 they just let us use whichever hand come natural for to write [ɹaɪʔ] with parents didn’t stop us; 0:36:57 I don’t think it’s hate [heːʔ] and despise but you look on each other differently I mean the southerners definitely look on us as being the poor relations and we look on them as being posh; 0:51:47 no, I don’t like being spoken down to not at all [nɒʔ ət ɒːɫ] (don’t think anybody really does, do they?); 0:53:26 (we work in and around where we live I think more in) yeah, you tend to get [gɛʔ] a lot [lɒʔ] of the same families that’ve [ðəʔ əv] been in the same villages for years and years, haven’t you, [avənʔ jə] they don’t really move about [əbaʊʔ] a lot [lɒʔ]) word medial & syllable initial T-glottaling (0:16:33 he lost his broad Cumbrian acc… uh Australian accent and he was proper broad Cumbrian but Nathan the little one [lɪʔɫ̩ wɒn] that was four you could still not understand him when he went back twelve month ago twe… twelve month later I should say;

7 These are the only instances of post-vocalic R in this recording; most tokens supplied by Kathy.

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0:29:56 kids think they’re big though uh lasses and lads they think they’re big if they swear and the the worse the swearing is the bigger they think they are and the more grown up they think they are and it just sounds rotten [ɹɒʔn̩] at times it sounds really degrading for them especially the lile ones; 0:30:21 I’ve noticed a lot of swearing in kids in villages I don’t think they they take they take it so serious um they let their kids swear that’s what I’ve noticed but uh, you know, in little [lɪʔɫ̩] villages more so; 0:40:08 Cumbria’s the forgotten [fəgɒʔn̩] county we don’t get a weather forecast we’ve we’ve got to go for Belfast or southern Scotland because up north are Liverpool and Manchester and then there’s nowt there’s thi… this invisible gap, like, where we live) frequent T-tapping (e.g. 0:06:46 we had, like, a bit of a compromise [bɪɾ əv ə kɒmpɹəmaɪz] there where we didn’t slang it so much and they didn’t go into the Scottish lingo so much; 0:07:51 if you’ve got an accent you’re born with that accent and the accent’s going to come through but it’s [bʊɾ ɪts] when you use different words for different things it it’s difficult for people to understand; 0:08:00 I think West Cumbrians all talk pretty fast anyway and anybody coming from out of the county if we’re slipping slang words in amongst it they have just haven’t got a clue [avənʔ gɒɾ ə kləuː]; 0:28:58 I always say I’m ‘dying’ “I’m dying” that’s what I say [wɒɾ aː seː] when I’ve got hangover [wɛn av gɒɾ aŋoːvə]; 0:30:21 I’ve noticed a lot of [lɒɾə] swearing in kids in villages I don’t think they they take they take it so serious um they let their kids swear that’s what I’ve noticed [wɒɾ aːv noːtɪst] but uh, you know, in little villages more so; 0:37:09 I think you label people but that’s usually from your own perception of what you see on the television whatever [wɒɾɛvə] you’ve watched on the television usually or whatever you’ve come across in life; 0:46:24 they just let us [lɛɾ əz] use whichever hand come natural for to write with parents didn’t stop us) frequent T-voicing (e.g. 0:07:51 if you’ve got an accent you’re born with that [ðad] accent and the accent’s going to come through but it’s when you use different words for different things it it’s difficult for people to understand; 0:20:36 and they used to sometimes get [gɪd] at me about my accent I says, “ever heard yourselves talking over the radio, like?”; 0:24:37 well to ‘throw’ I mean we would to say to ‘skop’ I mean but [bʊd] a lot of [lɒdə] folk wouldn’t know what ‘skop’ was really; 0:33:38 um I I never realised for a long time but then when it was pointed out till us about, you know, it’s all about women, isn’t it, um like uh ‘son of a bitch’ and thing like that that’s against women and it’s just when I realised how awful the words are it and yet [jɪd] a lot [lɒd] a lot of [lɒdə] women use them against theirsels; 0:39:11 I was once standing in a pub in London and in this local pub and I ordered my drink and this fellow who was beside us he said, “oh I recognise that [ðad] accent”; 0:40:08 Cumbria’s the forgotten county we don’t get [gɛd] a weather forecast we’ve we’ve got to [gɒdə] go for Belfast or southern Scotland because up north are Liverpool and Manchester and then there’s nowt there’s thi… this invisible gap, like, where we live) frequent T to R (e.g. 0:07:51 if you’ve got an accent [gɒɹ ən aksɛnt] you’re born with that accent and the accent’s going to come through but it’s when you use different words for different things it it’s difficult for people to understand; 0:08:11 I think a lot of [lɒɹ ə] the time it’s courteous to try and talk a little not so much properly but so they can understand you it’s a bit easier, isn’t it?; 0:15:44 I think you pick a lot of it [ə lɒɹ əv ɪt] up at school because my sister never went to school here when we came from Yorkshire and she still talks very posh and Yorkshire and so does my mam but me and my brother both went to school in Cockermouth and we we’re a lot more Cumbrian; 0:37:09 I think you label people but that’s usually from your own perception of what you see on the television whatever you’ve watched on the television usually or whatever [wɒɹɛvə] you’ve come across in life; 0:39:00 they either think you’re from Newcastle but it’s amazing [bʊɹ ɪts əmɛːzɪn] how many people don’t know where Cumbria is but if you say ‘The Lake District’ they know but Cumbria they’ve never heard if it) debuccalisation of T (0:06:30 so we sa… I told them all to start and talk more more broad and I says, “unless you speak till us so that we can understand you you’ll have to just get on with it [gɛd ɒn wɪd ɪʰ] same as we have to with you”; 0:08:11 I think a lot of the time it’s courteous to try and talk a little not so

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 21 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings much properly but so they can understand you it’s a bit easier, isn’t it? [ɪzənɪʰ]; 0:18:21 and when she qui... comes over here for a holiday she just she’s talking one minute [mɪnɪʰ] French on the phone then the next minute she’s just as if she’s back in Clifton and always been there again; 0:31:07 I mean even on Big Brother1 you picked up ‘blinking’ from Helen was it Helen ‘blinking’, “it’s blinking good, that” [ɪts blɪŋkɪŋ gʊd ðaʰ]; 0:33:38 um I I never realised for a long time but then when it was pointed out till us about, you know, it’s all about women, isn’t it, [ɪzn̩ɪʰ] um like uh ‘son of a bitch’ and thing like that that’s against women and it’s just when I realised how awful the words are it and yet a lot a lot of women use them against theirsels; 0:31:30 my four-year-old’s been singing this song and it’s, “eff you right back” and and she’s only four and because she’s heard it on the radio a lot and so I can’t, you know, she sings that song and all her friends sing it [ɪʰ]; 0:39:38 I think it’s a good thing because, you know, it gets people interested I think um my accent anyways and you can relate till other people with the same accent if you go off somewhere else it’s like being back at home a bit [bɪʰ] if you meet somebody else from Cumbria; 1:02:10 I can remember when my sister was growing up she used to wear these really uh pointed court shoes winkle-pickers and that [ən ðaʰ] and she used to to stop the points sort of going funny she used to have to stuff them all with newspaper and they looked that daft I sup… I suppose they were fashionable at the time) glottal reinforcement of T (0:22:15 just the really when they start going intill [ɪn͡tʔɫ̩] all this Cockney rhyme and all that I mean folk up here doesn’t understand it I don’t think half of the southerners understand it neither; 0:40:30 I once got a letter through post and it said that I had won this prize and they’d marked it ‘up north’ and I wrote back and I says, “I don’t want the prize you can keep it if you think I live in Liverpool because I don’t live in Liverpool” and I marked where I lived at and I says, “this is where I live and don’t write to us again” [doːnʔ ɹaɪ͡tʔɫ̩ əz əgɛn] they didn’t do; 1:01:28 it was better, yeah, because there was no competition as to what you were wearing” or, “I’ve got the better s… trainer than you have” or “your trai… trainer’s not [nʊ͡tʔ] as good as mine” you know, I mean we all wore galoshes and that was it, like, and it was all the same sort elastic fell off round the edges or summat round the soles or (monkey boots))

K affrication of K (0:20:36 and they used to sometimes get at me about my accent I says, “ever heard yourselves talking [ɪvəɾ əːd jəsɛɫvz tɔːxn̩] over the radio, like?”)

NASALS

NG frequent NG-fronting (e.g. 0:04:15 I was noticing [noːtsɪn] at the weekend when he came up anything [ɛnɪθɪn] that was ‘good’ was ‘boss’ and I’d never heard that before even on television I’d never heard that; 0:06:57 we started speaking [spəikn̩] broader to wind him up because he he was saying [seːɪn] that when we were trying [tɹaɪʲɪn] to talk a bit decent for him that we he still couldn’t understand us and I think he wanted to us to talk Queen’s English so that he could understand us; 0:11:04 and I th… you can’t be coming [kʊmən] out if you’re in meetings [miːtɪnz] or talking [tɔːkən] to somebody with responsibility just coming [kʊmən] out with ‘gaing’ [gaːən] and ‘louping’ [laʊpən] and, you know, the the normal way people the way you talk if you were just talking [tɔːkən] in a conversation I think you alter it to the people that you’re with; 0:28:58 I always say I’m ‘dying’ [daɪʲɪn] “I’m dying” [am daɪʲɪn] that’s what I say when I’ve got hangover)

N

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 22 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings frequent syllabic N with nasal release (e.g. 0:01:27 I’ve lived in Workington for thirteen years I was actually brought up in Yorkshire and I’m a neighbourhood warden [neːbɹʊd wɒːdn̩] with the neighbourhood support team; 0:06:46 we had, like, a bit of a compromise there where we didn’t [dɪdn̩t] slang it so much and they didn’t [dɪdn̩t] go into the Scottish lingo so much; 0:14:00 they say different words ’cause they have the slang words as well they’re proud of their accent which wh... why shouldn’t [ʃʊdn̩t] they be I mean they’re born and bred there so why should they not be proud of their accent and you just have to adjust, eh?; 0:18:21 and when she qui… comes over here for a holiday she just she’s talking one minute French on the phone then the next minute she’s just as if she’s back in Clifton [klɪftn̩] and always been there again; 0:24:03 well you had to talk a bit proper when you were at school ’cause um they didn’t [dɪdn̩] like you slanging it or owt, like, but uh I never really got pulled up on my accent just if you started saying ‘lile’ for ‘little’ and things like that and ‘babby’ instead of ‘baby’; 0:24:37 well to ‘throw’ I mean we would to say to ‘skop’ I mean but a lot of folk wouldn’t [wʊdn̩t] know what ‘skop’ was really so I mean it’s just things like that; 0:26:01 oh I’ve got a one or two that it pulled out from the back of my mind ‘unwell’ I often [ɒftn̩] say ‘peely-wally’ for ‘unwell’; 0:31:23 if they hear a word on telly (aye, it does, yeah) that becomes popular suddenly [sʊdn̩li] all the kids start saying it, don’t they, like, “you’re a slapper” or, “you’re a minger”; 0:46:24 they just let us use whichever hand come natural for to write with parents didn’t [dɪdn̩t] stop us; 0:58:45 no, now a ‘yard’s uh a ‘back yard’ back of your house but where my sister lives in Australia your ‘yard’ is your ‘garden’ [gaːdn̩])

FRICATIVES

H frequent H-dropping (e.g. 0:01:01 I’m on the ACE management team which is Salterbeck Al… Alliance and Community Enterprise and subcommittees again and on the Friends of the Nature Reserve which is at Harrington Nature Reserve [aɾɪʔn̩ neːʧə ɾɪzəːv] that we’re trying to get money for to dredge for to bring it back up to standard so at the swans and that can live a lot easier; 0:01:27 I’ve lived in Workington for thirteen years I was actually brought up in Yorkshire and I’m a neighbourhood warden [neːbɹʊd wɒːdn̩] with the neighbourhood support team [neːbɹʊd səpɒːt tiːm]; 0:13:48 Harry’s [aɾɪz] got a different accent till us I mean when I was first fifteen and I left school um I went to work at Maryport and I’ve always been in Workington; 0:16:22 Darren was about six and um within six week he’d lost his broad Australian accent ’cause we could hardly [aːdli] understand him and his brother when he come over when they come over; 0:20:36 and they used to sometimes get at me about my accent I says, “ever heard [əːd] yourselves talking over the radio, like?”; 0:22:15 just the really when they start going intill all this Cockney rhyme and all that I mean folk up here [ʊp iə] doesn’t understand it I don’t think half [aːf] of the southerners understand it neither; 0:28:58 I always say I’m ‘dying’ “I’m dying” that’s what I say when I’ve got hangover [aŋoːvə]; 0:45:18 and they said, “try with your right hand [ɹaɪt and] because you might hit the board [ɪt ðə bɒːd] then” and I was even worse I was even worse than with the right hand [ɹaɪt and] than the left hand [lɛft and] I never even hit [ɪt] the tyre round the board; 0:50:21 I know when my brother-in- law come over from Australia we tried to learn him how to say ‘worm’ how [aʊ] we say it round here [ɾaʊnd əiə] we say “worm” and it was hilarious [ɪlɛːɾiəs] listening till him to try and say this “worm” and I don’t think he ever got it off right; 0:58:45 no, now a ‘yard’s uh a ‘back yard’ back of your house [aʊs] but where my sister lives in Australia your ‘yard’ is your ‘garden’)

TH TH-stopping with with(in) (0:06:30 so we sa… I told them all to start and talk more more broad and I says, “unless you speak till us so that we can understand you you’ll have to just get on with it [gɛd ɒn wɪd ɪʰ] same as we have to with you” [seːm əz wi ɛftə wɪʤuː]; 0:16:22 Darren was about six and um within

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[wɪdɪn] six week he’d lost his broad Australian accent ’cause we could hardly understand him and his brother when he come over when they come over; 0:45:18 and they said, “try with your right hand [wɪd jə ɹaɪt and] because you might hit the board then” and I was even worse I was even worse than with the right hand [wɪd ðə ɹaɪt and] than the left hand I never even hit the tyre round the board; 0:48:02 so I used to pluck the violin so obviously I would do the same with [wɪd] a g… guitar left-handed even though I’m right-handed for to write with [wɪd]; 0:57:50 I think within [wɪdɪn] about ten minutes we were, like, really good friends and we have been for about fifteen years and sometimes I don’t see her for, like, months but I know I could just ring her up and she would do anything for me and I’m the same with [wɪd] her I suppose)

LIQUIDS

8 R approximant R (0:12:27 especially people from the south [fɹɒmtsaʊθ] they say, “oh why why is a northerner on [waɪ ɪz ə nɒːðənəɹ ɒn] why can’t we have a southerner on?” because they think we’re rough and ready, [ɾʊf ən ɹɪdiː] you know, they think we’re common folk and we’re just the same as them it’s just our accents; 0:08:37 I mean I don’t really [ɹɪːlɪ] think I’ve got that strong [stɹɒŋg] a Cumbrian [kʊmbɹiən] accent but when you hear yourself on tape it sounds really [ɹɪːlɪ] broad [bɹɒːd] and I think a lot of people probably [pɹɒbəlɪ] struggle [stɹʊgɫ̩] to understand you a lot of people think you’re Geordies; 0:57:50 I think within about ten minutes we were, like, really [ɹɪːlɪ] good friends [fɹɛnz] and we have been for about [fəɹ abaʊʔ] fifteen years and sometimes I don’t see her for, like, months but I know I could just ring her up [ɹɪŋ əɹ ʊp] and she would do anything for me and I’m the same with her I suppose [wɪd əːɹ a spoːz]) R-tapping (0:09:44 when I’m on the phone I’m always polite, you know, I uh it’s summat just comes natural [naʧəɾəɫ] to us but once I put that phone down I’m back till the uh the, you know, the local accent and that, like; 0:12:27 especially people from the south they say, “oh why why is a northerner on why can’t we have a southerner on?” [waɪ kaːnt wi ɛv ə sʊðənəɾ ɒn] because they think we’re rough and ready, [ɾʊf ən ɹɪdiː] you know, they think we’re common folk and we’re just the same as them it’s just our accents [aʊəɾ aksɛnts]; 0:18:21 and when she qui... comes over here for a holiday [ɒvəɾ iə fəɾ ə ɒlidɛ] she just she’s talking one minute French [fɾɛnʧ] on the phone then the next minute she’s just as if she’s back in Clifton and always been there again [ðɛːɾ əgɛn]; 0:46:24 they just let us use whichever hand [wɪʧɪvəɾ and] come natural for to write [ɹaɪʔ] with parents [pɛːɾn̩ts] didn’t stop us)

L clear onset L (0:08:00 I think West Cumbrians all talk pretty fast anyway and anybody coming from out of the county if we’re slipping [slɪpɪn] slang [slaŋ] words in amongst it they have just haven’t got a clue [kləuː]; 0:15:15 well my sister she moved away in 1971 she was always a Workington lass same as me and uh she moved till Australia [ɒstɹreːliə] and when she rings up now she hasn’t lost [lɒst] her English [ɪŋglɪʃ] accent; 0:18:21 and when she qui… comes over here for a holiday [hɒlidɛ] she just she’s talking one minute French on the phone then the next minute she’s just as if she’s back in Clifton [klɪftn̩] and always been there again) 2 dark coda L (0:00:08 I work in the Oval Centre [oːvəɫ sɛntə] as a centre assistant which uh means we set the tables [tɪəbɫ̩z] out and do other things to keep the uh the centre going; 0:24:18 it’s a good thing that they correct you because it helps [ɛɫps] you in later life when you have to talk a bit proper; 0:40:08

8 Most speakers vary between [ɾ > ɹ].

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 24 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings

Cumbria’s the forgotten county we don’t get a weather forecast we’ve we’ve got to go for Belfast [bɛɫfast] or southern Scotland because up north are Liverpool [lɪvəpʉːɫ] and Manchester and then there’s nowt there’s thi… this invisible [ɪɱvɪzɪzbɫ̩] gap, like, where we live) syllabic L with lateral release (0:03:50 he’s moved to uh Liverpool from Kendal [kɛndɫ̩] before Kendal [kɛndɫ̩] he lived in Workington before Workington he lived in Wales and he’s still only nine; 0:07:15 and I’m not bothered about Queens’s English if he he wants to talk that well fine but I just thought, “well if you won’t talk right so at we can understand you we’re not going to talk right neither” so we all ganged up on him and it it settled [sɛtɫ̩d] him; 0:24:03 well you had to talk a bit proper when you were at school ’cause um they didn’t like you slanging it or owt, like, but uh I never really got pulled up on my accent just if you started saying ‘lile’ for ‘little’ [lɪtɫ̩] and things like that and ‘babby’ instead of ‘baby’)

GLIDES

J yod coalescence (0:00:55 I’m on the committee for the SRA which is the Salterbeck Residents’ Association [sɒɫtəbɛk ɾɛzɪdənts əsoːʃieːʃn̩] and subcommittees; 0:21:40 Brummies I absolutely hate that accent they just sound s… it makes them sound thick I just hate it soon as you hear them you just imagine somebody really stupid [sʧuːpɪd]; 0:55:34 I mean whether they’re OK or not you you meb… if you’re in a situation [sɪʧueːʃn̩] you’ve to get on with them well you get on with them but you wouldn’t socialise with them)

ELISION prepositions frequent of reduction (e.g. 0:08:11 I think a lot of [ə] the time it’s courteous to try and talk a little not so much properly but so they can understand you it’s a bit easier, isn’t it?; 0:08:37 I mean I don’t really think I’ve got that strong a Cumbrian accent but when you hear yourself on tape it sounds really broad and I think a lot of [ə] people probably struggle to understand you a lot of [ə] people think you’re Geordies; 0:21:00 one of [ə] those things we got on well together, you know, the accents didn’t make any difference; 0:22:31 I’m proud of [ə] my accent (yeah) and I don’t think we sh… I don’t think anybody should change I mean whether whether folk like it or not; 0:24:39 we’ve got different words for different things same as anybody else ‘babby’ instead of [ə] ‘baby’ just things like that really; 0:58:45 no, now a ‘yard’s uh a ‘back yard’ back of [ə] your house but where my sister lives in Australia your ‘yard’ is your ‘garden’; 1:01:11 the little one’s only four and you can pay up to thirty pound for a pair of [ə] trainers (well when we were kids you just got owt that your mother and father could afford there was no labels as such then)) to reduction (0:49:02 I was up at se… half past seven quarter to eight [kwɔːt tɛɪt] this morning I was wide awake) with reduction (1:00:05 (kids still wear them now black they were them for school for indoor they call them their ‘indoors’ but the kids still do wear ‘galoshes’) (yeah) is that the ones with the elastic on top? [wɪt lastɪk ɒn tɒp] (yeah) (no, any)) negation secondary contraction (0:58:37 well I always say ‘ginnel’ I never I wouldn’t [wʊnʔ] think ‘alley’ (I think they s… call them ‘ginnels’ in Kendal) do they? (yeah, or ‘yards’ or whatever)) simplification

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 25 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings frequent word final consonant cluster reduction (e.g. 0:06:15 and he started saying, “well we can’t [kaːn] understand you can you not sort of speak a bit more proper so that me and Bob” another fellow from Scotland “can understand you?”; 0:08:11 I think a lot of the time it’s courteous to try and talk a little not so much properly but so they can understand you it’s a bit easier, isn’t it? [ɪzənɪʰ]; 0:22:15 just the really when they start going intill all this Cockney rhyme and all that I mean folk up here doesn’t [dʊzn̩] understand it I don’t think half of the southerners understand it neither; 0:24:03 well you had to talk a bit proper when you were at school ’cause um they didn’t [dɪdn̩] like you slanging it or owt, like, but uh I never really got pulled up on my accent just if you started saying ‘lile’ for ‘little’ and things like that and ‘babby’ instead of ‘baby’; 0:29:35 I think they swear a lot more today than what they ever did I mean I can remember when I was growing up you would never ever hear anybody swear and I […] no, I w… you would never hear your mam and dad swearing and none of my friends used to swear but now I think it’s the norm, isn’t it? [ɪzn̩ɪʔ]; 0:33:38 um I I never realised for a long time but then when it was pointed out till us about, you know, it’s all about women, isn’t it, [ɪzn̩ɪʰ] um like uh ‘son of a bitch’ and thing like that that’s against women and it’s just when I realised how awful the words are it and yet a lot a lot of women use them against theirsels; 0:36:33 I don’t know [dənoː] like you said there’s southerners thinks we’re all flat flat caps and whippets, don’t they?; 1:01:28 it was better, yeah, because there was no competition as to what you were wearing” or, “I’ve got the better s… trainer than you have” or “your trai… trainer’s not as good as mine” you know, I mean we all wore galoshes and that was it, like, and it was all the same sort [ɒːt seːm sɒːt] elastic fell off round the edges [ɹaʊn tɛʤɪz] or summat round the soles [ɹaʊnt soːɫz] or (monkey boots)) frequent word medial consonant cluster reduction (e.g. 0:01:01 I’m on the ACE management team which is Salterbeck Al… Alliance and Community Enterprise and subcommittees again and on the Friends of the Nature Reserve which is at Harrington Nature Reserve [aɾɪʔn̩ neːʧə ɾɪzəːv] that we’re trying to get money for to dredge for to bring it back up to standard so at the swans and that can live a lot easier; 0:06:57 we started speaking broader to wind him up because he he was saying that when we were trying to talk a bit decent for him that we he still couldn’t understand us and I think he wanted [wɒnɪd] to us to s… talk Queen’s English so that he could understand us; 0:08:37 I mean I don’t really think I’ve got that strong a Cumbrian accent but when you hear yourself on tape it sounds really broad and I think a lot of people probably [pɹɒbəlɪ] struggle to understand you a lot of people think you’re Geordies; 0:13:48 Harry’s got a different accent till us I mean when I was first fifteen and I left school um I went to work at Maryport and I’ve always been in Workington [wʊkɪtn̩]; 0:15:15 well my sister she moved away in 1971 she was always a Workington [wʊkɪtn̩] lass same as me and uh she moved till Australia and when she rings up now she hasn’t lost her English accent; 0:39:11 I was once standing in a pub in London and in this local pub and I ordered my drink and this fellow who was beside us he said, “oh I recognise [ɾɛkənaɪz] that accent”; 0:40:54 it was one of these you had to send send a order in for about twenty-five [twɛnɪfaɪv] quid (oh right) and then send your thing back and you could’ve won you went in this prize draw so I told them to get lost, like) word initial syllable reduction (0:18:04 my um sister-in-law she lives in France she’s lived there about [baʊʔ] twenty years and she talks French with a E… with a Cumbrian accent; 0:24:39 we’ve got different words for different things same as anybody else ‘babby’ instead of [stɛdə] ‘baby’ just things like that really; 0:29:56 kids think they’re big though uh lasses and lads they think they’re big if they swear and the the worse the swearing is the bigger they think they are and the more grown up they think they are and it just sounds rotten at times it sounds really degrading for them especially [spɛʃlɪ] the lile ones; 1:00:05 (kids still wear them now black they were them for school for indoor they call them their ‘indoors’ but the kids still do wear ‘galoshes’) (yeah) is that the ones with the elastic on top? [wɪt lastɪk ɒn tɒp] (yeah) (no, any); 1:01:28 it was better, yeah, because there was no competition as to what you were wearing” or, “I’ve got the better s… trainer than you have” or “your trai… trainer’s not as good as mine” you know, I

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 26 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings mean we all wore galoshes and that was it, like, and it was all the same sort elastic fell off [lastɪk fɛl ɒf] round the edges or summat round the soles or (monkey boots)) frequent syllable deletion (e.g. 0:01:27 I’ve lived in Workington for thirteen years I was actually brought up in Yorkshire and I’m a neighbourhood warden [neːbɹʊd wɒːdn̩] with the neighbourhood support team [neːbɹʊd səpɒːt tiːm]; 0:04:15 I was noticing [noːtsɪn] at the weekend when he came up anything that was ‘good’ was ‘boss’ and I’d never heard that before even on television I’d never heard that; 0:06:30 so we sa… I told them all to start and talk more more broad and I says, “unless you speak till us [spəik tɫ̩ ʊs] so that we can understand you you’ll have to just get on with it same as we have to with you”; 0:08:11 I think a lot of the time it’s courteous to try and talk a little not so much properly [pɹɒpli] but so they can understand you it’s a bit easier, isn’t it?; 0:09:44 when I’m on the phone I’m always polite, you know, I uh it’s summat just comes natural to us but once I put that phone down I’m back till the [bak tɫ̩ ði] uh the, you know, the local accent and that, like; 0:10:06 and I just turned round and told them I said, “well you call me what you like” but I said, “when I’m in company [kʊmpni] uh I like to speak properly I was learnt to speak properly and I can do it” I said, “whereas you people” I says, “you can’t even talk you can’t even talk your own dialect some of yous” so after that I never bothered it; 0:12:27 especially [əspɛʃlɪ] people from the south they say, “oh why why is a northerner on why can’t we have a southerner on?” because they think we’re rough and ready, you know, they think we’re common folk and we’re just the same as them it’s just our accents; 0:13:48 Harry’s got a different accent till us [dɪfɹənt aksɛntɫ̩ ʊz] I mean when I was first fifteen and I left school um I went to work at Maryport and I’ve always been in Workington; 0:15:15 well my sister she moved away in 1971 she was always a Workington lass same as me and uh she moved till Australia [ʃɪ muːvd tɫ̩ ɒstɹreːliə] and when she rings up now she hasn’t lost her English accent; 0:21:40 Brummies I absolutely hate that accent they just sound s… it makes them sound thick I just hate it soon as you hear them you just imagine somebody [sʊmdi] really stupid; 0:22:15 just the really when they start going intill [ɪn͡tʔɫ̩] all this Cockney rhyme and all that I mean folk up here doesn’t understand it I don’t think half of the southerners understand it neither; 0:27:16 (yeah, I I mean I have a tendency to use the F-word quite a lot when I’m uh) yeah, yeah, I do (I do as well) my brother disowns me he won’t talk till us [tɒːk tɫ̩ əz] when I’m drunk; 0:29:56 kids think they’re big though uh lasses and lads they think they’re big if they swear and the the worse the swearing is the bigger they think they are and the more grown up they think they are and it just sounds rotten at times it sounds really degrading for them especially [spɛʃlɪ] the lile ones; 0:33:38 um I I never realised for a long time but then when it was pointed out till us [pɒɪntɪd aʊt tɫ̩ əz] about, you know, it’s all about women, isn’t it, um like uh ‘son of a bitch’ and thing like that that’s against women and it’s just when I realised how awful the words are it and yet a lot a lot of women use them against theirsels; 0:37:09 I think you label people but that’s usually [juːʒlɪ] from your own perception of what you see on the television whatever you’ve watched on the television usually [juːʒli] or whatever you’ve come across in life; 0:39:38 I think it’s a good thing because, you know, it gets people interested I think um my accent anyways and you can relate till other people [ɹɪleːʔɫ̩ ʊðə pəipɫ̩] with the same accent if you go off somewhere else it’s like being back at home a bit if you meet somebody else from Cumbria; 0:41:58 no, ’cause I’ve always went for a local job and it’s always been um a local firm with local accents and that round here so it’s never really come intill [ɪntɫ̩] it that way; 0:45:07 when I was in another factory [faktɹɪ] working there was a darts competition and they used to enter me intill [ɪntɫ̩] this darts competition even though I’ve never threw darts before in my life; 0:49:02 I was up at se… half past seven quarter to eight [kwɔːt tɛɪt] this morning I was wide awake; 0:53:26 (we work in and around where we live I think more in) yeah, you tend to get a lot of the same families [famlɪz] that’ve been in the same villages for years and years, haven’t you, they don’t really move about a lot; 0:57:50 I think within about ten minutes we were, like, really good friends and we have been for about fifteen years and sometimes I don’t see her for, like, months but I know I could just ring her up and she would do anything for me and I’m the same with her I suppose [spoːz]; 1:01:28 it was better,

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 27 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings yeah, because there was no competition as to what you were wearing” or, “I’ve got the better s… trainer than you have” or “your trai… trainer’s not as good as mine” you know, I mean we all wore galoshes [glɒʃəz] and that was it, like, and it was all the same sort elastic fell off round the edges or summat round the soles or (monkey boots)) definite article reduction9 (0:05:46 well I keep my accent as much as I can when I was working in the office [ɪnʔ ɒfɪs] as an administrator you had to watch what you say and how you say things; 0:12:27 especially people from the south [fɹɒmtsaʊθ] they say, “oh why why is a northerner on why can’t we have a southerner on?” because they think we’re rough and ready, you know, they think we’re common folk and we’re just the same as them it’s just our accents; 0:22:15 just the really when they start going intill all this Cockney rhyme and all that I mean folk up here doesn’t understand it I don’t think half of the southerners [aːf ət sʊðənəz] understand it neither; 0:29:56 kids think they’re big though uh lasses and lads they think they’re big if they swear and the the worse the swearing is the bigger they think they are and the more grown up they think they are and it just sounds rotten at times it sounds really degrading for them especially the lile ones [spɛʃlɪ ʔlaːl ənz]; 0:59:58 you had to drown, like, soak them, hadn’t you, and then stick them out in the fresh air [ɪnt fɹɛʃ ɛː] to dry (used to wear them) (and they cracked) and they cracked, yeah aye, they did, aye; 1:00:05 (kids still wear them now black they were them for school for indoor they call them their ‘indoors’ but the kids still do wear ‘galoshes’) (yeah) is that the ones with the elastic on top? [wɪt lastɪk ɒn tɒp] (yeah) (no, any); 1:01:28 it was better, yeah, because there was no competition as to what you were wearing” or, “I’ve got the better s… trainer than you have” or “your trai… trainer’s not as good as mine” you know, I mean we all wore galoshes and that was it, like, and it was all the same sort [ɒːt seːm sɒːt] elastic fell off round the edges [lastɪk fɛl ɒf ɹaʊn tɛʤɪz] or summat round the soles [ɹaʊnt soːɫz] or (monkey boots)) L-deletion (0:13:48 Harry’s got a different accent till us I mean when I was first fifteen and I left school um I went to work at Maryport and I’ve always [ɔːwəs] been in Workington; 0:15:29 but she’s still got her English accent and when she was a telesales um operator over in Australia she used to get a lot of folk saying you were from England because they could always [ɒːwəs] understand her accent and they knew exactly where she come from ’cause she has no Australian accent at all; 0:28:58 I always [əʊwɪz] say I’m ‘dying’ “I’m dying” that’s what I say when I’ve got hangover; 0:41:58 no, ’cause I’ve always [ɔːwəz] went for a local job and it’s always [ɔːwəs] been um a local firm with local accents and that round here so it’s never really come intill it that way; 0:50:12 (that was to attract the men, was it, or) just anybody I was only [ɔːnɪ] young) TH-deletion with them (0:02:58 ‘knickers’ is ‘knickers’ and a lot of folk call ‘knickers’ ‘pants’ ‘trousers’ is ‘pants’ till us where a lot of folk call them [əm] ‘trousers’; 0:59:58 you had to drown, like, soak them, hadn’t you, and then stick them [əm] out in the fresh air to dry (used to wear them) (and they cracked) and they cracked, yeah aye, they did, aye; 1:00:05 kids still wear them now black they were them [əm] for school for indoor they call them their ‘indoors’ but the kids still do wear ‘galoshes’ (yeah) (is that the ones with the elastic on top?) (yeah) no, any) V-deletion with have (0:40:54 it was one of these you had to send send a order in for about twenty-five quid (oh right) and then send your thing back and you could’ve [kʊdə] won you went in this prize draw so I told them to get lost, like; 0:46:31 I’ve heard my mam say um they used to make you use your right hand if you were left-handed which I think is wrong because I mean your brain works different, doesn’t it, if you’re right-handed or left-handed (yeah) so I think that must’ve [mʊstə] really confused people and really held them back; 0:47:17 and I tried to get him to get a left-handed guitar but uh I done the wrong thing ’cause he is actually right-handed on the guitar and it the bl… the man who sold me the guitar said

9 All tokens supplied by Ann White.

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 28 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings it would’ve [wʊdə] made a big difference because you, you know, your brain works different for each hand) W-deletion (0:09:44 when I’m on the phone I’m always [ɔːləs] polite, you know, I uh it’s summat just comes natural to us but once I put that phone down I’m back till the uh the, you know, the local accent and that, like)

LIAISON

2 frequent linking R (e.g. 0:00:08 I work in the Oval Centre as a centre assistant [sɛntəɾ əsɪstənt] which uh means we set the tables out and do other things to keep the uh the centre going; 0:12:27 especially people from the south they say, “oh why why is a northerner on why can’t we have a southerner on?” [waɪ ɪz ə nɒːðənəɹ ɒn wai kaːnt wi ɛv ə sʊðənəɾ ɒn] because they think we’re rough and ready, you know, they think we’re common folk and we’re just the same as them it’s just our accents [aʊəɾ aksɛnts]; 0:15:29 but she’s still got her English accent [ʃɪz stɪɫ gɒd əɾ ɪŋglɪʃ aksɛnt] and when she was a telesales um operator over in Australia [tɛlɪseːɫz əːm ɒpəɾeːtəɾ ɒvəɾ ɪn ɒstɹeːliə] she used to get a lot of folk saying you were from England because they could always understand her accent and they knew exactly where she come from ’cause she has no Australian accent at all; 0:20:36 and they used to sometimes get at me about my accent I says, “ever heard yourselves talking [ɪvəɾ əːd jəsɛɫvz tɔːxn̩] over the radio, like?”; 0:20:48 I says, “you’ll never ever get me change my accent though you can’t understand it” I said, “you’ll never ever get us to change it” [jəɫ nɪvəɾ ɪvə gɪt ʊs tə ʧeːnʤ ɪt]; 0:25:26 no, I just enj… just that I’ve just enjoyed the conversation round here the ‘crack’ as we might say in our dialect, you know, and I’ve really enjoyed it thanks for inviting us [fəɾ ɪnvaitn̩ əs]; 0:39:38 I think it’s a good thing because, you know, it gets people interested I think um my accent anyways and you can relate till other people with the same accent if you go off somewhere else [sʊmwɛːɾ ɛɫs] it’s like being back at home a bit if you meet somebody else from Cumbria; 0:57:50 I think within about ten minutes we were, like, really good friends and we have been for about [fəɹ abaʊʔ] fifteen years and sometimes I don’t see her for, like, months but I know I could just ring her up [ɹɪŋ əɹ ʊp] and she would do anything for me and I’m the same with her I suppose [wɪd əːɹ a spoːz]; 1:01:11 (the little one’s only four and you can pay up to thirty pound for a pair of trainers [fəɾ ə pɛːɾ ə tɹeːnəz]) well when we were kids you just got owt that your mother and father [mʊðəɾn̩ faðə] could afford there was no labels as such then) zero linking R (0:20:48 I says, “you’ll never ever get me change my accent [nɪvə ɪvə gɪt mi ʧeːnʤ maɪ aksɛnt] even though you can’t understand it” I said, “you’ll never ever get us to change it”; 0:37:37 it doesn’t make me hate or despise anybody I work with people from London from all ov…, you know, all over the place and, no, it the their accent [ðə aksɛnt] doesn’t make me think any different of them at all; intrusive R (0:06:07 when I was w... um working as a textile worker in uh Supermoor there was um a fellow he was our manager and he was called Alasdair [ə fɛləɾ iː wəz aʊə manɪʤəɾn̩ ɪ wəz kɒːɫd alɪstə] and he was from Scotland; 0:24:18 it’s a good thing that they correct you because it helps you in later life [ɪt ɛɫps jəɾ ɪn leːtə laɪf] when you have to talk a bit proper; 0:25:40 (tara) tara, Harry [taɾɑːɾ aɾi] (see you) (bye) (tara); 0:39:00 they either think you’re from Newcastle but it’s amazing how many people don’t know where Cumbria is [wɛː kʊmbɹɪəɹ ɪz] but if you say ‘The Lake District’ they know but Cumbria they’ve never heard if it; 0:39:11 I was once standing in a pub in London and in this local pub and I ordered my drink and this fellow who was beside us [fɛləɾ uː wəz bɪsaɪd əz] he said, “oh I recognise that accent”)

+/- VOICE

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 29 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings with with TH (0:04:39 different when they’re with [wɪθ] their mates but when they were speaking to me or hav... just having a general crack then I would try and s…, you know, pull them up with [wɪð] if it was very broad I would pull them up)

WEAK-STRONG CONTRAST word initial vowel strengthening (0:46:31 I’ve heard my mam say um they used to make you use your right hand if you were left-handed which I think is wrong because I mean your brain works different, doesn’t it, if you’re right-handed or left-handed (yeah) so I think that must’ve really confused [kɒɱfjuːzd] people and really held them back) word final vowel strengthening (0:49:59 I used to stay a lot with my cousin [kʊzɪn] in the army and um I so I used to put me accent on more)

PROSODY uptalk (0:06:07 when I was w... um working as a textile worker in uh Supermoor there was um a fella he was our manager and he was called Alasdair and he was from Scotland; 0:06:15 and he started saying, “well we can’t understand you can you not sort of speak a bit more proper so that me and Bob” another fella from Scotland “can understand you?”; 0:06:30 so we sa… I told them all to start and talk more more broad and I says, “unless you speak till us so that we can understand you you’ll have to just get on with it same as we have to with you”; 0:17:29 the northerner always has to change till the southerners because they won’t return the favour”) LEXICALLY SPECIFIC VARIATION again(st) (0:18:21 and when she qui… comes over here for a holiday she just she’s talking one minute French on the phone then the next minute she’s just as if she’s back in Clifton and always been there again [əgɛn]; 0:32:09 (a swear-word implies summat not nice really, you know, so) I think it’s great to say the F-word if you’re in a bad mood (oh yeah, definitely) I think just saying the F-word ov… over again [əgɛn] it just releases summat; 0:33:38 um I I never realised for a long time but then when it was pointed out till us about, you know, it’s all about women, isn’t it, um like uh ‘son of a bitch’ and thing like that that’s against [əgɛnst] women and it’s just when I realised how awful the words are it and yet a lot a lot of women use them against [əgɛnst] theirsels) (be)cause (0:06:57 we started speaking broader to wind him up because [bɪkɒz] he he was saying that when we were trying to talk a bit decent for him that we he still couldn’t understand us and I think he wanted to us to s… talk Queen’s English so that he could understand us; 0:14:59 we’re all the same it shouldn’t really make any difference, like, but l… like you say they do sort of they talk down till you because [bɪkʊz] I think that some I think think you’re muck under their feet to be honest; 0:16:22 Darren was about six and um within six week he’d lost his broad Australian accent ’cause [kɒz] we could hardly understand him and his brother when he come over when they come over) (n)either (0:07:15 and I’m not bothered about Queens’s English if he he wants to talk that well fine but I just thought, “well if you won’t talk right so at we can understand you we’re not going to talk right neither” [nəiðə] so we all ganged up on him and it it settled him; 0:22:15 just the really when they start going intill all this Cockney rhyme and all that I mean folk up here doesn’t understand it I don’t think half of the southerners understand it neither [nəiðə]; 0:39:00 they either [aɛðə] think you’re from Newcastle but it’s amazing how many people don’t know where Cumbria is but if you say ‘The Lake District’ they know but Cumbria they’ve never heard if it)

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DETERMINERS frequent definite article reduction9 (e.g. 0:05:46 well I keep my accent as much as I can when I was working in t’ office as an administrator you had to watch what you say and how you say things; 0:12:27 especially people from t’ south they say, “oh why why is a northerner on why can’t we have a southerner on?” because they think we’re rough and ready, you know, they think we’re common folk and we’re just the same as them it’s just our accents; 0:22:15 just the really when they start going intill all this Cockney rhyme and all that I mean folk up here doesn’t understand it I don’t think half of t’ southerners understand it neither; 0:29:56 kids think they’re big though uh lasses and lads they think they’re big if they swear and the the worse the swearing is the bigger they think they are and the more grown up they think they are and it just sounds rotten at times it sounds really degrading for them especially t’ lile ’uns; 0:59:58 you had to drown, like, soak them, hadn’t you, and then stick them out in t’ fresh air to dry (used to wear them) (and they cracked) and they cracked, yeah aye, they did, aye; 1:00:05 (kids still wear them now black they were them for school for indoor they call them their ‘indoors’ but the kids still do wear ‘galoshes’) (yeah) is that the ones with t’ elastic on top? (yeah) (no, any); 1:01:28 it was better, yeah, because there was no competition as to what you were wearing” or, “I’ve got the better s… trainer than you have” or “your trai… trainer’s not as good as mine” you know, I mean we all wore galoshes and that was it, like, and it was all t’ same sort elastic fell off round t’ edges or summat round t’ soles or (monkey boots)) zero definite article (0:00:24 you meet a lot of nice people _ same as I met this morning these ladies here; 0:06:30 so we sa… I told them all to start and talk more more broad and I says, “unless you speak till us so that we can understand you you’ll have to just get on with it _ same as we have to with you”; 0:15:15 well me sister she moved away in 1971 she was always a Workington lass _ same as me and uh she moved till Australia and when she rings up now she hasn’t lost her English accent; 0:24:39 we’ve got different words for different things _ same as anybody else ‘babby’ instead of ‘baby’ just things like that really; 0:38:03 it’s just that when you’re on _ telephone or somewhere and they they’ll say till you, “where you from?” “ojh well fr… I’m from Cumbria” “where’s that at near Newcastle?” and you’ll say, “no, it’s not near Newcastle it’s Carlisle do you know where Carlisle’s at?” and you’ll say they’ll say, “no”; 0:40:30 I once got a letter through _ post and it said that I had won this prize and they’d marked it ‘up north’ and I wrote back and I says, “I don’t want the prize you can keep it if you think I live in Liverpool because I don’t live in Liverpool” and I marked where I lived at and I says, “this is where I live and don’t write till us again” they didn’t do; 1:01:28 it was better, yeah, because there was no competition as to what you were wearing” or, “I’ve got the better s… trainer than you have” or “your trai… trainer’s not as good as mine” you know, I mean we all wore galoshes and that was it, like, and it was all t’ same sort _ elastic fell off round t’ edges or summat round t’ soles or (monkey boots)) a for an (0:40:54 it was one of these you had to send send a order in for about twenty-five quid (oh right) and then send your thing back and you could’ve won you went in this prize draw so I told them to get lost, like) zero indefinite article (0:28:58 I always say I’m ‘dying’ “I’m dying” that’s what I say when I’ve got _ hangover)

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demonstrative them (0:35:42 well as soon as we open our mouth a northerner a southerner despises you really ’cause like I say y… they think you’re common we’re just the same as them a lot of s… I suppose a lot of northerners’ll think southerners is too posh or summat I don’t know but it’s just one of them things, eh?; 1:00:18 oh right ’cause ours was them, like, lace-ups (they call them their ‘pumps’) their ‘pumps’ right so that’s the new name for them then)

NOUNS zero plural (0:16:22 Darren was about six and um within six week he’d lost his broad Australian accent ’cause we could hardly understand him and his brother when he come over when they come over; 0:16:33 he lost his broad Cumbrian acc… uh Australian accent and he was proper broad Cumbrian but Nathan the little one that was four you could still not understand him when he went back twelve month ago twe… twelve month later I should say; 1:01:11 the little one’s only four and you can pay up to thirty pound for a pair of trainers (well when we were kids you just got owt that your mother and father could afford there was no labels as such then))

PRONOUNS me in co-ordinate subjects (0:15:44 I think you pick a lot of it up at school because my sister never went to school here when we came from Yorkshire and she still talks very posh and Yorkshire and so does me mam but me and me brother both went to school in Cockermouth and we we’re a lot more Cumbrian) frequent singular object us (e.g. 0:05:55 when you’re on the phone you’ve got to be more correct and but when I come off the phone I just reverted back to me own local accent and if nobody could understand us well tough they had to learn while they were in the office; 0:08:55 um I’ve found that I have to change me accent sometimes I mean I work a lot with the youth and so I keep me broad accent um but then when I’m I go till Ulverston which isn’t very far away the a lot of them can’t really understand us and they they ask me where I’m from; 0:09:31 you know it’s just to get on their level really (yeah) yeah, (so) ’cause if I talked posh or summat they would they wouldn’t listen to us (no, they would think you were talking down to them as well probably); 0:09:44 when I’m on the phone I’m always polite, you know, I uh it’s summat just comes natural to us but once I put that phone down I’m back till the uh the, you know, the local accent and that, like; 0:25:26 no, I just enj… just that I’ve just enjoyed the conversation round here the ‘crack’ as we might say in our dialect, you know, and I’ve really enjoyed it thanks for inviting us; 0:27:16 (yeah, I I mean I have a tendency to use the F-word quite a lot when I’m uh) yeah, yeah, I do (I do as well) my brother disowns me he won’t talk till us when I’m drunk; 0:33:02 I don’t know I’ve I’m just wondering mesel if it would come out if if it would release it and all this anger mebbe that’s been built up inside of us for all these years if mebbe I would swear I don’t know we’ll mebbe have to have an experiment; 0:33:38 um I I never realised for a long time but then when it was pointed out till us about, you know, it’s all about women, isn’t it, um like uh ‘son of a bitch’ and thing like that that’s against women and it’s just when I realised how awful the words are it and yet a lot a lot of women use them against theirsels; 0:39:11 I was once standing in a pub in London and in this local pub and I ordered me drink and this fella who was beside us he said, “oh I recognise that accent”; 0:40:30 I once got a letter through post and it said that I had won this prize and they’d marked it ‘up north’ and I wrote back and I says, “I don’t want the prize you can keep it if you think I live in Liverpool because I don’t live in Liverpool” and I marked where I lived at and I says, “this is where I live and don’t write to us again” they didn’t do; 0:46:24 they just let us use whichever hand come natural for to write with parents didn’t stop us) second person plural (0:10:06 and I just turned round and told them I said, “well you call me what you like” but I said, “when I’m in company uh I like to speak properly I was learnt to speak properly and I

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 32 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings can do it” I said, “whereas you people” I says, “you can’t even talk you can’t even talk your own dialect some of yous” so after that I never bothered it) frequent possessive me (e.g. 0:05:55 when you’re on the phone you’ve got to be more correct and but when I come off the phone I just reverted back to me own local accent and if nobody could understand us well tough they had to learn while they were in the office; 0:15:44 I think you pick a lot of it up at school because my sister never went to school here when we came from Yorkshire and she still talks very posh and Yorkshire and so does me mam but me and me brother both went to school in Cockermouth and we we’re a lot more Cumbrian; 0:20:11 in my tank crew there was uh a Scotchman there was a Geordie meself and a lad from uh Devon; 0:24:03 well you had to talk a bit proper when you were at school ’cause um they didn’t like you slanging it or owt, like, but uh I never really got pulled up on me accent just if you started saying ‘lile’ for ‘little’ and things like that and ‘babby’ instead of ‘baby’; 0:39:11 I was once standing in a pub in London and in this local pub and I ordered me drink and this fellow who was beside us he said, “oh I recognise that accent”; 0:45:46 just paid me money for the charity that we had to pay for to enter and that was it, that like, it was like a donation; 0:49:59 I used to stay a lot with me cousin in the army and um I so I used to put me accent on more; 1:00:39 expensive (yeah) but I do like labels meself but I they are expensive) regularised reflexive (0:22:53 I mean ’cause it’s all new language all till theirsels, isn’t it; 0:33:38 um I I never realised for a long time but then when it was pointed out till us about, you know, it’s all about women, isn’t it, um like uh ‘son of a bitch’ and thing like that that’s against women and it’s just when I realised how awful the words are it and yet a lot a lot of women use them against theirsels) alternative reflexive with <-sel> (0:22:53 I mean ’cause it’s all new language all till theirsels, isn’t it 0:30:14 and I don’t think there’s any need for it to be honest I’ve never used the language mesel (I think) um but like you say it is a growing trend; 0:33:02 I don’t know I’ve I’m just wondering mesel if it would come out if if it would release it and all this anger mebbe that’s been built up inside of us for all these years if mebbe I would swear I don’t know we’ll mebbe have to have an experiment; 0:33:38 um I I never realised for a long time but then when it was pointed out till us about, you know, it’s all about women, isn’t it, um like uh ‘son of a bitch’ and thing like that that’s against women and it’s just when I realised how awful the words are it and yet a lot a lot of women use them against theirsels) unbound reflexive (0:20:11 in my tank crew there was uh a Scotchman there was a Geordie meself and a lad from uh Devon) relative that (0:11:04 and I th… you can’t be coming out if you’re in meetings or talking to somebody with responsibility just coming out with ‘gaing’ and ‘louping’ and, you know, the the normal way people the way you talk if you were just talking in a conversation I think you alter it to the people that you’re with; 0:42:18 because people picked up on it right away that I wasn’t from Workington or West Cumbrian but then again me family that live in Carlisle now the… they say I’m totally West Cumbrian; 0:53:26 (we work in and around where we live I think more in) yeah, you tend to get a lot of the same families that’ve been in the same villages for years and years, haven’t you, they don’t really move about a lot) zero relative (0:09:44 when I’m on the phone I’m always polite, you know, I uh it’s summat _ just comes natural to us but once I put that phone down I’m back till the uh the, you know, the local accent and that, like; 0:36:33 I dunno like you said there’s southerners _ thinks we’re all flat flat caps and whippets, don’t they?)

VERBS present generalisation of 3rd person singular <-s> (0:36:33 I dunno like you said there’s southerners thinks we’re all flat flat caps and whippets, don’t they?)

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 33 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings be – is generalisation (0:02:58 ‘knickers’ is ‘knickers’ and a lot of folk call ‘knickers’ ‘pants’ ‘trousers’ is ‘pants’ till us where a lot of folk call them ‘trousers’; 0:14:53 our accents is it’s just from where we’re from and it doesn’t make us any worse than them and it doesn’t make us any better than them; 0:35:42 well as soon as we open our mouth a northerner a southerner despises you really ’cause like I say y… they think you’re common we’re just the same as them a lot of s… I suppose a lot of northerners’ll think southerners is too posh or summat I don’t know but it’s just one of them things, eh?; 0:39:23 and so I said, “go on then guess where am I from” and he went, “Cumbria” and I said, “how did you know?” and he said, “I’s from Aspatria, lass”) have – has generalisation (0:32:42 my mam and dad’s never used language like that so I’ve never used language like that) do – does generalisation (0:22:15 just the really when they start going intill all this Cockney rhyme and all that I mean folk up here doesn’t understand it I don’t think half of t’ southerners understand it neither) past zero past (0:05:55 when you’re on the phone you’ve got to be more correct and but when I come off the phone I just reverted back to me own local accent and if nobody could understand us well tough they had to learn while they were in the office; 0:15:29 but she’s still got her English accent and when she was a telesales um operator over in Australia she used to get a lot of folk saying you were from England because they could always understand her accent and they knew exactly where she come from ’cause she has no Australian accent at all; 0:16:22 Darren was about six and um within six week he’d lost his broad Australian accent ’cause we could hardly understand him and his brother when he come over when they come over; 0:46:24 they just let us use whichever hand come natural for to write with parents didn’t stop us; 0:50:21 I know when me brother-in-law come over from Australia we tried to learn him how to say ‘worm’ how we say it round here we say “worm” and it was hilarious listening till him to try and say this “worm” and I don’t think he ever got it off right) generalisation of simple past (0:23:23 I know of travellers I know a a lot of travellers (so what was that word you said before?) like well they would call the ‘muskras’ and for ‘police’ and and ‘nash’ but I think some of that comes from Carlisle as well […] a ‘buer’ I think for ‘girl’ I’m (in Carlisle, yeah) I’m not sure but I I used to know a lot of the words but I I I’ve forgot them now; 0:29:24 I don’t know if there’s a rise in a rise but uh I think it’s more noticeable in kids now but maybe that’s just because I’ve grew up so and I’m noticing how much the kids swear uh today; 0:41:58 no, ’cause I’ve always went for a local job and it’s always been um a local firm with local accents and that round here so it’s never really come intill it that way; 0:45:07 when I was in another factory working there was a darts competition and they used to enter me intill this darts competition even though I’ve never threw darts before in me life) generalisation of past participle (0:47:17 and I tried to get him to get a left-handed guitar but uh I done the wrong thing ’cause he is actually right-handed on the guitar and it the bl… the man who sold me the guitar said it would’ve made a big difference because you, you know, your brain works different for each hand) be – was generalisation (1:00:18 oh right ’cause ours was them, like, lace-ups (they call them their ‘pumps’) their ‘pumps’ right so that’s the new name for them then) compounds double conditional (0:33:02 I don’t know I’ve I’m just wondering mesel if it would come out if if it would release it and all this anger mebbe that’s been built up inside of us for all these years if mebbe I would swear [= ‘if I did swear’] I don’t know we’ll mebbe have to have an experiment) progressive with stative (0:11:04 and I th… you can’t be coming out if you’re in meetings or talking to somebody with responsibility just coming out with ‘gaing’ and ‘louping’ and, you know, the the normal way people the way you talk if you were just talking in a conversation I think you alter it to the people that you’re with)

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 34 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings otiose do (0:40:30 I once got a letter through post and it said that I had won this prize and they’d marked it ‘up north’ and I wrote back and I says, “I don’t want the prize you can keep it if you think I live in Liverpool because I don’t live in Liverpool” and I marked where I lived at and I says, “this is where I live and don’t write to us again” they didn’t do) zero auxiliary be (0:38:03 it’s just that when you’re on telephone or somewhere and they they’ll say till you, “where _ you from?” “ojh well fr… I’m from Cumbria” “where’s that at near Newcastle?” and you’ll say, “no, it’s not near Newcastle it’s Carlisle do you know where Carlisle’s at?” and you’ll say they’ll say, “no”; 0:44:13 I didn’t have a clue but, like, if you were going into town they would always say, “are you are you coming down the street shall we go down the street?” and I’d be like, “what street what _ they on about which street are we going down is there shops there?”) invariant there is~was (0:17:48 yeah, I just think there’s that many different dialects that other people would find it difficult to copy our (’cause we talk fast I think) yeah, really fast; 0:36:33 I dunno like you said there’s southerners thinks we’re all flat flat caps and whippets, don’t they?; 0:44:13 I didn’t have a clue but, like, if you were going into town they would always say, “are you are you coming down the street shall we go down the street?” and I’d be like, “what street what they on about which street are we going down is there shops there?”; 1:01:11 the little’uns only four and you can pay up to thirty pound for a pair of trainers) well when we were kids you just got owt that your mother and father could afford there was no labels as such then) frequent historic present (e.g. 0:06:30 so we sa… I told them all to start and talk more more broad and I says, “unless you speak till us so that we can understand you you’ll have to just get on with it same as we have to with you”; 0:10:06 and I just turned round and told them I said, “well you call me what you like” but I said, “when I’m in company uh I like to speak properly I was learnt to speak properly and I can do it” I said, “whereas you people” I says, “you can’t even talk you can’t even talk your own dialect some of yous” so after that I never bothered it; 0:20:36 and they used to sometimes get at me about my accent I says, “ever heard yourselves talking over the radio, like?”; 0:20:48 I says, “you’ll never ever get me change my accent even though you can’t understand it” I said, “you’ll never ever get us to change it”; 0:40:30 I once got a letter through post and it said that I had won this prize and they’d marked it ‘up north’ and I wrote back and I says, “I don’t want the prize you can keep it if you think I live in Liverpool because I don’t live in Liverpool” and I marked where I lived at and I says, “this is where I live and don’t write to us again” they didn’t do) for to infinitive (0:01:01 I’m on the ACE management team which is Salterbeck Al… Alliance and Community Enterprise and subcommittees again and on the Friends of the Nature Reserve which is at Harrington Nature Reserve that we’re trying to get money for to dredge for to bring it back up to standard so at the swans and that can live a lot easier; 0:45:46 just paid me money for the charity that we had to pay for to enter and that was it, that like, it was like a donation; 0:46:24 they just let us use whichever hand come natural for to write with parents didn’t stop us; 0:47:44 and this lass I was about nine or ten in junior school and she says, “please, sir, Ann’s using the wrong hand she’s using the left hand for to do it; 0:48:02 so I used to pluck the violin so obviously I would do the same with a g… guitar left-handed even though I’m right-handed for to write with) bare infinitive (0:20:48 I says, “you’ll never ever get me _ change my accent even though you can’t understand it” I said, “you’ll never ever get us to change it”) full verb have (0:15:29 but she’s still got her English accent and when she was a telesales um operator over in Australia she used to get a lot of folk saying you were from England because they could always understand her accent and they knew exactly where she come from ’cause she has no Australian accent at all; 1:00:47 no, labels don’t bother but uh I’ve got four nephews I’ve no children I never got married and I’ve no children) obligatory have to (0:55:34 I mean whether they’re OK or not you you meb… if you’re in a situation you’ve to get on with them well you get on with them but you wouldn’t socialise with them; 0:59:58 you

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 35 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings had to drown, like, soak them, hadn’t you, and then stick them out in t’ fresh air to dry (used to wear them) (and they cracked) and they cracked, yeah aye, they did, aye) embedded interrogative (0:39:23 and so I said, “go on then guess where am I from” and he went, “Cumbria” and I said, “how did you know?” and he said, “I’s from Aspatria, lass”)

NEGATION multiple negation (0:07:15 and I’m not bothered about Queens’s English if he he wants to talk that well fine but I just thought, “well if you won’t talk right so at we can understand you we’re not gonna talk right neither” so we all ganged up on him and it it settled him; 0:22:15 just the really when they start going intill all this Cockney rhyme and all that I mean folk up here doesn’t understand it I don’t think half of t’ southerners understand it neither) never as sentential negator (0:15:44 I think you pick a lot of it up at school because my sister never went to school here when we came from Yorkshire and she still talks very posh and Yorkshire and so does me mam but me and me brother both went to school in Cockermouth and we we’re a lot more Cumbrian; 0:33:38 um I I never realised for a long time but then when it was pointed out till us about, you know, it’s all about women, isn’t it, um like uh ‘son of a bitch’ and thing like that that’s against women and it’s just when I realised how awful the words are it and yet a lot a lot of women use them against theirsels; 0:45:18 and they said, “try with your right hand because you might hit the board then” and I was even worse I was even worse than with the right hand than the left hand I never even hit the tyre round the board; 1:01:46 (‘monkey boots’) (aye, ‘monkey boots’) aye, my sister used to have a pair of them me sister had some I was devastated ’cause I never got a pair) auxiliary contraction (0:07:15 and I’m not bothered about Queens’s English if he he wants to talk that well fine but I just thought, “well if you won’t talk right so at we can understand you we’re not gonna talk right neither” so we all ganged up on him and it it settled him; 0:14:00 they say different words ’cause they have the slang words as well they’re proud of their accent which wh... why shouldn’t they be I mean they’re born and bred there so why should they not be proud of their accent and you just have to adjust, eh?; 0:16:33 he lost his broad Cumbrian acc… uh Australian accent and he was proper broad Cumbrian but Nathan the little one that was four you could still not understand him when he went back twelve month ago twe… twelve month later I should say) zero contraction with interrogative (0:06:15 and he started saying, “well we can’t understand you can you not sort of speak a bit more proper so that me and Bob” another fella from Scotland “can understand you?”)

PREPOSITIONS preposition deletion (0:10:06 and I just turned round and told them I said, “well you call me what you like” but I said, “when I’m in company uh I like to speak properly I was learnt to speak properly and I can do it” I said, “whereas you people” I says, “you can’t even talk you can’t even talk your own dialect some of yous” so after that I never bothered _ it; 0:54:00 I mean I think it’s great ’cause I just step out _ me door and I’m at work) insertion locative at (0:18:56 if somebody came in now even though I haven’t lived at Yorkshire for a long time if somebody came to me and started talking to me within five minutes I’d be a lot broader Yorkshire; 0:38:03 it’s just that when you’re on telephone or somewhere and they they’ll say till you, “where you from?” “ojh well fr… I’m from Cumbria” “where’s that at near Newcastle?” and you’ll say, “no, it’s not near Newcastle it’s Carlisle do you know where Carlisle’s at?” and you’ll say they’ll say, “no”; 0:40:30 I once got a letter through post and it said that I had won this prize and they’d marked it ‘up north’ and I wrote back and I says, “I don’t want the prize you can keep it if you think I live in Liverpool because I don’t live

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 36 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings in Liverpool” and I marked where I lived at and I says, “this is where I live and don’t write to us again” they didn’t do) substitution intill [= into] (0:22:15 just the really when they start going intill all this Cockney rhyme and all that I mean folk up here doesn’t understand it I don’t think half of t’ southerners understand it neither; 0:41:58 no, ’cause I’ve always went for a local job and it’s always been um a local firm with local accents and that round here so it’s never really come intill it that way) frequent till [= to] (e.g. 0:02:58 ‘knickers’ is ‘knickers’ and a lot of folk call ‘knickers’ ‘pants’ ‘trousers’ is ‘pants’ till us where a lot of folk call them ‘trousers’; 0:06:30 so we sa… I told them all to start and talk more more broad and I says, “unless you speak till us so that we can understand you you’ll have to just get on with it same as we have to with you”; 0:08:55 um I’ve found that I have to change me accent sometimes I mean I work a lot with the youth and so I keep me broad accent um but then when I’m I go till Ulverston which isn’t very far away the a lot of them can’t really understand us and they they ask me where I’m from; 0:09:44 when I’m on the phone I’m always polite, you know, I uh it’s summat just comes natural to us but once I put that phone down I’m back till the uh the, you know, the local accent and that, like; 0:13:48 Harry’s got a different accent till us I mean when I was first fifteen and I left school um I went to work at Maryport and I’ve always been in Workington; 0:14:59 we’re all the same it shouldn’t really make any difference, like, but l… like you say they do sort of they talk down till you because I think that some I think think you’re muck under their feet to be honest; 0:15:15 well me sister she moved away in 1971 she was always a Workington lass same as me and uh she moved till Australia and when she rings up now she hasn’t lost her English accent; 0:17:29 the northerner always has to change till the southerners because they won’t return the favour”; 0:27:16 (yeah, I I mean I have a tendency to use the F- word quite a lot when I’m uh) yeah, yeah, I do (I do as well) my brother disowns me he won’t talk till us when I’m drunk; 0:33:38 um I I never realised for a long time but then when it was pointed out till us about, you know, it’s all about women, isn’t it, um like uh ‘son of a bitch’ and thing like that that’s against women and it’s just when I realised how awful the words are it and yet a lot a lot of women use them against theirsels; 0:39:38 I think it’s a good thing because, you know, it gets people interested I think um my accent anyways and you can relate till other people with the same accent if you go off somewhere else it’s like being back at home a bit if you meet somebody else from Cumbria; 0:50:21 I know when me brother-in-law come over from Australia we tried to learn him how to say ‘worm’ how we say it round here we say “worm” and it was hilarious listening till him to try and say this “worm” and I don’t think he ever got it off right)

ADVERBS complementisers emphatic that [= so] (0:17:48 yeah, I just think there’s that many different dialects that other people would find it difficult to copy our (’cause we talk fast I think) yeah, really fast; 1:02:10 I can remember when me sister was growing up she used to wear these really uh pointed court shoes winkle-pickers and that and she used to to stop the points sort of going funny she used to have to stuff them all with newspaper and they looked that daft I sup… I suppose they were fashionable at the time) so at [= so that] (0:01:01 I’m on the ACE management team which is Salterbeck Al… Alliance and Community Enterprise and subcommittees again and on the Friends of the Nature Reserve which is at Harrington Nature Reserve that we’re trying to get money for to dredge for to bring it back up to standard so at the swans and that can live a lot easier; 0:07:15 and I’m not bothered about Queens’s English if he he wants to talk that well fine but I just thought, “well if you won’t talk right so at we can understand you we’re not gonna talk right neither” so we all ganged up on him and it it settled him)

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… as [= as […] as] 0:21:40 Brummies I absolutely hate that accent they just sound s… it makes them sound thick I just hate it _ soon as you hear them you just imagine somebody really stupid) unmarked manner adverb (0:06:15 and he started saying, “well we can’t understand you can you not sort of speak a bit more proper so that me and Bob” another fella from Scotland “can understand you?”) 0:09:44 when I’m on the phone I’m always polite, you know, I uh it’s summat just comes natural to us but once I put that phone down I’m back till the uh the, you know, the local accent and that, like; 0:24:18 it’s a good thing that they correct you because it helps you in later life when you have to talk a bit proper; 0:30:21 I’ve noticed a lot of swearing in kids in villages I don’t think they they take they take it so serious um they let their kids swear that’s what I’ve noticed but uh, you know, in little villages more so; 0:46:24 they just let us use whichever hand come natural for to write with parents didn’t stop us; 0:46:31 I’ve heard me mam say um they used to make you use your right hand if you were left-handed which I think is wrong because I mean your brain works different, doesn’t it, if you’re right-handed or left-handed (yeah) so I think that must’ve really confused people and really held them back)

DISCOURSE utterance final and that (0:09:44 when I’m on the phone I’m always polite, you know, I uh it’s summat just comes natural to us but once I put that phone down I’m back till the uh the, you know, the local accent and that, like; 0:41:58 no, ’cause I’ve always went for a local job and it’s always been um a local firm with local accents and that round here so it’s never really come intill it that way) frequent utterance final like (e.g. 0:09:44 when I’m on the phone I’m always polite, you know, I uh it’s summat just comes natural to us but once I put that phone down I’m back till the uh the, you know, the local accent and that, like; 0:14:31 and they think that we should knuckle down and talk like them and speak so that they can understand us but they won’t return the favour, like; 0:14:59 we’re all the same it shouldn’t really make any difference, like, but l… like you say they do sort of they talk down till you because I think that some I think think you’re muck under their feet to be honest; 0:20:36 and they used to sometimes get at me about my accent I says, “ever heard yourselves talking over the radio, like?”; 0:22:23 I know they must be proud of their Cockney rhyming and all that, like, but I can’t stick that, like; 0:24:03 well you had to talk a bit proper when you were at school ’cause um they didn’t like you slanging it or owt, like, but uh I never really got pulled up on me accent just if you started saying ‘lile’ for ‘little’ and things like that and ‘babby’ instead of ‘baby’; 0:40:08 Cumbria’s the forgotten county we don’t get a weather forecast we’ve we’ve gotta go for Belfast or southern Scotland because up north are Liverpool and Manchester and then there’s nowt there’s thi… this invisible gap, like, where we live; 0:40:54 it was one of these you had to send send a order in for about twenty-five quid (oh right) and then send your thing back and you could’ve won you went in this prize draw so I told them to get lost, like; 0:45:46 just paid me money for the charity that we had to pay for to enter and that was it, that like, it was like a donation; 1:01:28 it was better, yeah, because there was no competition as to what you were wearing” or, “I’ve got the better s… trainer than you have” or “your trai… trainer’s not as good as mine” you know, I mean we all wore galoshes and that was it, like, and it was all t’ same sort elastic fell off round t’ edges or summat round t’ soles or (monkey boots)) utterance internal like (0:06:46 we had, like, a bit of a compromise there where we didn’t slang it so much and they didn’t go into the Scottish lingo so much; 0:44:13 I didn’t have a clue but, like, if you were going into town they would always say, “are you are you coming down the street shall we go down the street?” and I’d be like, “what street what they on about which street are we going down is there shops there?”; 0:57:18 but she’s the most down-to-earth person you could meet you’ve got to, like, look beyond it, haven’t you?; 0:57:50 I think within about ten minutes we were, like, really good friends and we have been for about fifteen years and sometimes I don’t see her for, like, months but I know I could just ring her up and she would do anything for me and I’m the same with her I suppose; 0:59:58 you had to drown, like, soak them, hadn’t you, and then stick them out in t’ fresh air to dry (used to wear them) (and they cracked)

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 38 of 39 BBC Voices Recordings and they cracked, yeah aye, they did, aye; 1:00:18 oh right ’cause ours was them, like, lace-ups (they call them their ‘pumps’) their ‘pumps’ right so that’s the new name for them then) intensifier proper (0:16:33 he lost his broad Cumbrian acc… uh Australian accent and he was proper broad Cumbrian but Nathan the little one that was four you could still not understand him when he went back twelve month ago twe… twelve month later I should say) quotative like (0:44:13 I didn’t have a clue but, like, if you were going into town they would always say, “are you are you coming down the street shall we go down the street?” and I’d be like, “what street what they on about which street are we going down is there shops there?”) quotative go (0:39:23 and so I said, “go on then guess where am I from” and he went, “Cumbria” and I said, “how did you know?” and he said, “I’s from Aspatria, lass”) emphatic tag (0:11:57 I like to hear regional accents, me, I do I like to hear a regional accent; 0:31:07 I mean even on Big Brother1 you picked up ‘blinking’ from Helen was it Helen ‘blinking’, “it’s blinking good, that”; 0:59:34 I’ve got ‘daps’ but I think that came from Carlisle, was daps) otiose what (0:16:55 yeah, I think it I think it’s easier for kids to pick up and lose accents than what what it is for us; 0:29:35 I think they swear a lot more today than what they ever did I mean I can remember when I was growing up you would never ever hear anybody swear and I […] no, I w… you would never hear your mam and dad swearing and none of my friends used to swear but now I think it’s the norm, isn’t it?)

© Robinson, Herring, Gilbert Voices of the UK, 2009-2012 A British Library project funded by The Leverhulme Trust

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